


Life in the Avengers Household

by thechosenone305



Series: Life In The Avengers Household [LITAH] [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Amazing Spider-Man (Movies - Webb), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, BAMF Natasha Romanov, Bruce Banner & Tony Stark Friendship, Bruce Banner Cooks, Ceiling Vent Clint Barton, Domestic Avengers, Drama, Dysfunctional Family, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Friendship, Gen, Humor, Marvel Cinematic Universe - Freeform, Multi, Parkour, Protective Steve Rogers, Sassy Peter, Science Bros, Snarky Clint Barton, So Much Snark, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-11-13
Updated: 2015-08-12
Packaged: 2017-11-18 15:19:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 21,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/562495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thechosenone305/pseuds/thechosenone305
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After SHIELD places Peter Parker to live in the Avengers tower, life in the Avengers household starts to get interesting. Things get a little chaotic and somewhat strange. But in the end, they are all one slightly dysfunctional happy family... Okay, sort of. Domestic Avengers. Inspired from The Avengers Headcanons on tumblr. Rated T for language and violence in later chapters. Pepperony. AU. Might have some hints of Clintasha later on.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Avengers, Dismayed

**Author's Note:**

> Sup! I'm Esmeralda, the same chick from tumblr, deviantart and the Ninja-on-the-run gal from fanfiction.net. And yes, this is the same fanfic, but I have modified it in some ways. More sass, I guess. Shout out to my beta Kat! Woo! Happy birthday gurl! I don't own the Avengers. Enjoy!

"This is the kid SHIELD wants us to look after?"

"That's Spider-Man?!"

The avengers all looked at the screen.

The scrawny kid from Queens, was Spider-Man?

"You're kidding." Clint Barton wasn't sure whether to believe it or not, and he has seen many unbelievable things in his lifetime.

But this one takes all of the awards.

"How old is he?" asked Natasha.

"17."

"He's still a kid!" exclaimed Pepper.

"How is this kid on the potential threat list again?" asked Bruce, feeling a slight deja vu to half a year before.

"Supposedly, he's Spider-Man."

"But.... he's still a kid!" Pepper repeated.

"Jarvis, pull up Spider-Man footage from last week."

"Right away sir."

Multiple articles of Spider-Man, the crime fighter with spider like abilities appeared on the screen, blurry video clips from a street monitor camera came into view.

"Wow." said Bruce.

"And we're supposed to babysit him?" asked Tony.

"No, just keep him under our watch," says Steve looking from the files sent from SHIELD on the Stark Tablet.

"But we're not babysitters," said Tony, slightly annoyed.

"Tony-"

"Steve, he's a kid! Why would we want a kid around here? I'm pretty sure he's a freshman."

"Mr. Stark, according to the files, he's a senior at Midtown High School."

"Shut up Jarv. It's the same thing. Put Fury on the line."

"Right away sir."

"Tony, you're overreacting a bit," said Steve starting to stand up.

"Nope. I'm giving Cyclops a piece of my mind," growled Tony.

Just then, Nick Fury was on the screen.

"Stark."

"Fury, just what the hell were you thinking? A kid?!" exclaimed Tony, infuriated.

"I'd knew you'd react like this."

"Damn right! Well what did you expect?" asked Tony.

"Have you even read his file?" asked Nick.

"It doesn't matter, he's just a kid," said Tony.

"He's a straight A student, never had detention, doesn't have a criminal past. Or at least that's what SHIELD's got on him," read Clint.

"Doesn't sound like a brat to me," commented Natasha.

"But you on the other hand sound like a five year old," said Steve looking over at Tony.

"Steve, we aren't keeping the kid here. It's too dangerous," Tony looked over at Bruce. "And no, I'm not talking about the other guy."

"Then why don't you want him to stay here?" asked Pepper.

"Do I have to repeat myself? It's dangerous!"

"It can't be more dangerous than him being Spider-man. Everyone gets to vote on it. Clint?" asked Steve.

"I don't see the problem keeping him here," Clint shrugged. He was still having a tough time believing. But why the hell not? He seemed like a good kid.

"Natasha?" asked Steve.

"I don't mind. I agree."

"Bruce?" asked Steve.

"As long as he's not in the same room with the other guy," said Bruce with a small shrug.

"So, I'm the bad guy here?" Tony remarked. Then he shook his head. "I say no."

"I say yes," said Steve. "Major-"

"Wait.... You said we all get a vote on this. We need Thor!" exclaimed Tony.

"Thor is in Asgard. He'll be alright with it," shrugged Clint.

"Silence, Barton! We need Shakespeare's approval!"

"No. You need your fiancee's approval," said Pepper. "I say yes."

Tony gawked in mock hurt. "Pepper!"

"Tony, it's okay! He won't cause any trouble."

"Stark, this boy has sacrificed his freedom just to keep New York safe. He's a crime fighter while you are sleeping, all while being a advanced placement student."

"He's staying," confirmed Steve.

"So that's it? You guys make a life changing decision just like that? Without my approval?" asked Tony.

"Majority wins."

"Alright, Peter will be here in three weeks. Good luck."

With that, Nick Fury signed off.

Tony stood still, then he turned around with a small glare over to Steve. "Traitor."

Steve sighed. "Give the kid a chance, Tony," he replied. "It won't hurt."

Tony huffed and sighed. "Fine. Give me a night and I'll think about it."

"Well, you've got three weeks to think about it," said Steve with a shrug. "I think you'll change your mind."

"No promises, Cap. Meeting adjourned."

Usually, it was Steve who adjourned the meetings, him being Captain America and such, but Tony was in such a bad mood that he ignored that.

On the other hand, the team shrugged and left like it was nothing new.

"Alright, I'll be in the training room," said Natasha.

"Lab." Bruce went down the hall.

"Office." Pepper 

"Stark, I don't know about you, but I'm going to the kitchen. Later," Clint stood up and headed to the door.

It was silent with Steve and Tony being alone in the room for a minute.

"Tony."

"No."

"Just...." Steve  sighed. "Read the rest of the files. Trust me, you'll change your opinion. Says here, he's pretty good at science-y stuff, maybe you two can find something in common."

With that, Steve stood up and left.

Tony stood still, looking at the files on the screen of Spider-Man.

_Change your opinion...Yeah, right._

He began skimming over the articles and pulled up the files from SHIELD on the monitor next to it.

Evidence found in his home of broken and damaged web shooters. Also many Oscorp designs stolen and modified for his own benefit.

_Oscorp. Okay, maybe I think I'm gonna like this kid._


	2. Peter Parker, Newcomer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No, it wasn't home. He didn't feel comfortable.
> 
> A place where he was being under watch of Earth's Mightiest Heroes. He wasn't here by will. Home is where the heart is. His heart wasn't here.
> 
> This wasn't home. This was just temporal headquarters.
> 
> Well, for now it was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own the Avengers.
> 
> Enjoy!

Whoa.” Peter looked up at the tower.

_That is an intimidating tower._

He pushed up his glasses and took in the view in front of him.

_Damn....That is ONE intimidating tower...._

It felt like it was only yesterday when he came home to see three guys in suits sitting down having coffee with his aunt May. In reality, it was only a month ago.

Yeah, S.H.I.E.L.D. decides things for him very quickly.

According to what the agents told him, he was going to be under watch. By the Avengers. Of course, it would only be temporarily, and he’s pretty sure Earth’s Mightiest Heroes would get sick of his face eventually. But the question was why?

Ever since the Lizard, he stayed out of view. 

He had only visited Stark Tower once. It was in the 9th grade, as part of his physics unit. He was so very fascinated...I mean, mechanics and physics in one place? Hello future employment.

But that was before he found the tiny radioactive spider that would change his life completely. Two years of being Spider-Man, and he was dealing with being a high school student at Midtown pretty well. Better than he expected actually, but then again, you can’t really finish your Spanish homework after stopping a robbery and keeping it all a secret from your aunt.

With Gwen Stacy's help, he was managing his high school life...Sort of.

She would take the notes he didn't undertand, which were a few to be honest and she would simplify them. 

Homework during the afternoon and underneath the notes, dinner in the evening, and then it was crime busting time. That was his schedule for the majority of the days.

It was now his everyday life.

 

Then, an organization called S.H.I.E.L.D. has to come along and shake things up for him.

 

He was pretty sure his aunt knew all of it though already. She didn’t exactly seem shocked when he showed her the mask and uniform.

“I thought so.”

“What?!....how?!”

“You aren’t exactly stealthy when you stumble inside like a drunk cat through the fire escape.”

Ouch. 

"Oh...."

Well, it wasn't his fault for nearly twisting his ankle in stopping a robbery. That thief had pretty good aim with a rock after all. Well, before the cops got them.

"Peter, hiding this much of a secret from me? How long have you been doing this?" she asked.

"Two years...." mumbled Peter.

"Peter, why?"

"I didn't want you to get hurt,"

“Don’t get in any trouble, Peter.”

“I won’t,” promised Aunt May.

“Good.”

She took it way better than he expected.

Waaaay better.

Despite what S.H.I.E.L.D told him, he told Gwen. She had to know. Obviously.

"What?!" she exclaimed on the phone.

"Yeah," replied Peter sheepishly. 

"Out of all the groups... The Avengers?" she asked.

"Pretty much."

"But _why_?"

"They said to 'keep an eye on me' but I haven't gotten into trouble in a long time."

"Will you still go to Midtown?" she asked.

"Yeah. It might take me a while to get there though. I still don't know how to drive."

"Hopefully Tony Stark will spare some cars for you."

Peter chuckled. "Doubt it."

Now, a month later, he was in the elevator of what is now his new home.

No, it wasn't home. He didn't feel comfortable.

A place where he was being under watch of Earth's Mightiest Heroes. He wasn't here by will. Home is where the heart is. His heart wasn't here.

This wasn't home. This was just temporal headquarters.

Well, for now it was.

* * *

 

Meanwhile....

“Tony, at least clean yourself up!”

“Pep, I’m making a new armor. I can’t clean up until I’m done,” said Tony, wiping his forehead with his sleeve.

“Jarvis, when is Peter arriving?” asked Pepper.

“In a few moments.”

“Tony, I will personally drag you into the shower if you don’t go.”

“Well, when you put it that way... I wouldn’t mind,” he winked.

…

Smack!

“Ow, damn! What’s that clipboard made of?! Spare suit parts?!” exclaimed Tony.

“No, all the paperwork you still have to fill out. Go take a shower. Now.” Pepper ordered.

“Fine, fine.” Tony gave in, lifting his grease stained hands up in surrender. “I’ll go shower.”

Automatically, the music turned off and the prototype suit was being pulled away, into its containment unit in the wall.

“But you still owe me.”

“Fine. Tonight?” asked Pepper.

“All fine by me,” smirked Tony giving her his mischievous eyes.

“Go shower.”

“Alright.... Love you.”

“Love you too. Now move it!”

* * *

 

One down, three to go.

Clint prepared his bow, focusing on the target in front of him.

The archery range on his floor was a great for training, or to just spend time. It's always best to be at your best, especially now if you have to keep look out for the team during missions, and the good thing....

He never misses.

He pulled out an explosive arrow, one he had been waiting to use just for this target. The large bright red robotic target, made by Tony Stark himself, was 9 feet tall and moving. To be honest though, it just reminded him of a giant robotic bear Clint shuddered.

Never again are they going camping. Ever.

Just before he was going to release the arrow, Jarvis spoke up breaking his concentration.

“Mr. Barton, you are requested in the main room.”

And he was really looking foward to use that arrow.

“Is the Peter Piper kid or whatever here?” asked Clint.

“He’s on his way up.”

“Alright, thanks Jarvis.”

Honestly, how can a guy as snarky as Tony make an AI that is so polite? Maybe it was the accent? Then again, British accents make anything sound polite. With a shrug, he began to take of his quiver and gloves. Though...not before he shot the arrow at the moving target.

3, 2, 1...

Boom.

Damn straight.

He never misses.

* * *

 

Steve was already in the living room with Natasha who was reading, curled up in a love seat. He didn’t really have anything to do in the other parts of the tower that day. His day was go to the gym, work out, done. That was it.

Bruce was in his lab, analyzing his newest project. He had been there the entire morning. Most people would have been bored, studying blueprints, looking at formulas and notes alone. He didn’t mind the solitude. He enjoyed it. The rare peace and quiet in the tower was hard to find.

With Tony Stark in the building, it was very hard to have peace and quiet.

So, he didn’t see the interrupting AI coming.

“Dr. Banner, you are requested in the main room,” spoke Jarvis.

“Oh, alright. I’ll be there in a minute,” Bruce pulled off his glasses and slipped them into his shirt pocket. He stood up and stretched his arms for a minute before he head out into the hallway. He had seen the files S.H.I.E.L.D. had sent them three weeks ago and read about the newcomer. Smart kid, well-behaved, son of an inspiring scientist. He had briefly associated with Dr. Parker a few years back, before he disappeared.

Other than what he read on the kid, he also knew one thing that didn't have to be on paper: Peter Parker was going to be an interesting addition to the already strange household.

* * *

“Where’s Stark?” asked Clint.

“Showering,” replied Pepper.

“He’s always late,” sighed Steve.

“Actually Capsicle, I’m right here,” Tony walked down the stairs dressed in his casual AC/DC shirt and jeans.

“Really Stark? AC/DC?” asked Clint, eyeing Tony’s shirt with distaste.

“Shut up Legolas, you don’t know good music even if it slapped you in the face with a dead fish,” replied Tony.

Clint sighed. “Again with the Legolas,” he mumbled. He loved Lord of the Rings, but the Legolas jokes were getting kind of old. “Y’know, I have a name.”

“And shitty taste of music.”

“You want to go there, Buckethead?” asked Clint.

“Bring it on, Robin Hood.”

_Ding._

The elevator doors opened and Peter stepped out.

“I have a very good taste of music, thank you very much,” said Clint, crossing his arms.

“Guys,” said Natasha, noticing Peter.

“Oh really? In what realm is Train considered good music, 50 ways to say crap?” asked Tony.

“Oh you did NOT just go there!” snapped Clint. “Guys.”

“Yes, I just did,” said Tony.

“For the love of God! Tony! Clint!” exclaimed Pepper.

“What?!” both Avengers replied.

“Peter’s here.”

“Oh.” Peter glanced at the Avengers, all sitting on the leather couch. Well, most of them sitting on the leather couch. Never in his life would have Peter thought he would witness Hawkeye arguing with Iron Man about music.

Especially about Train and AC/DC.

“Um... Hi,” greeted Peter.

Awkward silence.

“Hi! You must be Peter,” smiled Pepper.

“I’m Pepper Potts. Secretary and Tony’s assistant.”

“I’m Steve Rogers,” Steve greeted, “Or Captain America, sometimes.”

“Bruce Banner,” Bruce gave a small wave. “Just call me Bruce.”

“Natasha Romanoff,” said Natasha.

“The name is Tony Stark, you probably already knew that,” Tony approached Peter. “And that one with the vest is Clint Barton, the guy with the shittiest taste of music in all of New York.”

“Hey!” exclaimed Clint. “I don’t have shitty taste of music!”

“You have the entire album on your phone!” exclaimed Tony.

“You have the entire CD collection!” Clint backfired.

"They're classics!" retorted Tony.

“Nat, help me out here!” exclaimed Clint.

“No, you're right Tony. His taste in music is the worst in the nation,” said Natasha.

“Tasha!” gasped Clint. “You hurt me.”

“The truth hurts,” shrugged Natasha.

“Natasha, you’re my new favorite,” smirked Tony.

"I thought the Cap was your favorite," said Clint.

"I know Tasha is your favorite in other things."

WHAM.

"Back on task!" announced Pepper, smacking the clipboard against the couch loudly, everyone jumping.

Peter pushed his glasses up. “I’m Peter.... But you guys already knew that.”

“We’ve heard plenty about you,” said Steve. “Good things, obviously.”

_Except for the whole vigilante stuff....._

“And you’re the guy with the webs” added Tony. “You seem to have plenty experience with them,” he remarked.

“I've only had them since I was 15. About two years now with them,” said Peter.

“Two years or two weeks, you’re still pretty good.” noted Bruce.

Peter knew a little bit about the Avengers. Well, he knew that they saved the world from an alien army. And that Tony Stark was in it along with five others. Captain America, the Hulk, Black Widow, Hawkeye and Thor.

Six in total.

_Wait a second........._

“Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren’t there supposed to be six of you?” asked Peter.

“You right. We’re missing Mr. Drapery,” remarked Tony.

“Who?” asked Peter, slightly confused.

“Thor,” answered Steve.

“Oh,” replied Peter.

“Y’know, tall, buff, has L’oreal Asgard worthy blonde hair,” nodded Tony.

L'oreal....Asgard?

"Asgard as in....Asgard?" asked Peter.

"Yep. The Norse mythology guy. That apparently is real," nodded Clint.

“He’s in Asgard, taking care of some issues about Loki,” added Bruce.

_Loki? Whoa whoa whoa...._

“Whoa, like the Loki that tried to mess up Manhattan last summer?” asked Peter.

“Yep, that’s the douchebag we had to deal with.” Clint grimaced.

Tall buff and blonde.... Peter shuddered internally. Hopefully the all mighty hammer wielding Thor won't mind having him around...

“Thor won’t mind me being here?” asked Peter.

“Relax kid, he’s a sweet guy. He won’t mind,” said Tony, clapping him on the back.

“I thought everyone knew about the mess in Manhattan,” remarked Bruce.

“Well, I was in Seattle for a week to visit a family friend and didn’t hear about it until after it happened.” Peter had left the weekend before the entire ordeal. He and his aunt went to visit an old friend. When they came back, well.... There was quite a mess.

Traffic, cement, debrise, smog. It was crazy. And that's just from his point of view in Queens. He didn't really know what was going on till he got home and saw the newspaper sitting on the doorstep.

"ONE WEEK. ALL I DID WAS LEAVE FOR ONE WEEK! ONE MOTHERHUGGING WEEK! THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS!" he had yelled when he saw the headlines on the Chronicle.

Needless to say, he was pretty shocked for a couple of days.

Because apparently allllll of the crazy stuff happens right after he leaves the city.

“Say kid, you don’t like Train?” asked Tony.

Peter frowned. “I don’t listen to them.”

“Good. You’ll be alright. Jarvis, lead Peter to his room.”

"Right this way, Mr. Parker." Peter jumped a little bit and looked around.

"Who was that?!" he exclaimed, alarmed.

_Did whatever just talked... have a British accent?!_

"Oh, that's my AI, Jarvis. He'll help you with anything. Just call him. Avengers disassemble." The Avengers disbanded and each set off into their own directions. Steve headed down to his  floor and Bruce to his lab.

Natasha stood up, gathering her books and blanket when Peter spoke.

“Um, Ms. Romanoff..... is that normal?” he asked, pointing to Clint and Tony who were heading off to their respective destinations.

“It’s Natasha. Do you mean them acting like two jackasses?” asked Natasha.

Peter didn’t know what to call it so he nodded. “Yeah...Pretty much.”

Natasha shrugged. “It’s normal. And this is one of their good days.”

She continued to the elevator.

Peter blinked and began going down the hallway.

"Peter, if you need anything, tell me," said Pepper before she went to the office.

"Okay, thanks."

 

A British artificial intelligence, two music feuding Avengers, a Norse god with L'Oreal worthy blonde hair.....

Well, not even twenty minutes in exactly being in Avengers/Stark Tower and he already knew one thing for sure: living with the Avengers was going to be really interesting.

And by interesting, I mean _really_ interesting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback is welcomed!


	3. Clint Barton, NOT a Morning Hawk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stark is going to pay.

Beeeeeep.

Beeeeeep.

Beeeeeep.

Clint groaned and opened his eyes.

_Ugh, waking up._

He glanced over to his alarm clock, hoping to see that he still had an hour left to sleep in.

The still beeping alarm clock's bright red numbers stared back at him; 7:41 AM.

He had to go to work at 8AM.

_Fuck._

Beeeeeeep. Beeeeeep.

With a small grumble, he slammed the snooze button and the alarm shut up.

Who wouldn't be tired after eight hours of training, with only one 30 minute break? He didn't even eat dinner, which is saying something because Pepper is a fantastic cook and wouldn't miss it for the world.

But no, he was too tired to join the Avengers, and Peter, at the table. Mumbling an excuse, he had taken a quick shower and literally crashed onto the bed.

It was around 9 PM when he finally began falling asleep.

But 9 PM is when the mechanic side of Tony comes out.

Once Clint closed his eyes, the sounds of Tony hammering away in the R&D Floor A above him echoed loudly.

Then they stopped.

_Finally._

Only with Tony replacing the hammer with a power drill.

Clint groaned and covered his head with his pillow.

Then Shoot to Thrill blasted and shook the ceiling.

"I swear, I'm going to sleep in the garage," Clint mumbled.

He didn't sleep in the garage. Or any other room on his floor. He was simply too tired to really do anything.

He needed to have Tony soundproof that lab or else he's going to shoot an arrow at one of the suits one of these days.

And that's saying something.

The racket continued for the  _entire_  night.

It was a night where he really hated that he chose the floor underneath the R&D Floor A.

He thought about it for a moment; to sleep in or to not sleep in? To skip work or to go to work?

_Screw work, I need to sleep._

Ditching work for one day wouldn't hurt him, right?

He sighed and pulled the blanket over his head. It won't hurt to skip a day...

Just when the sleep began returning, Tony Stark came in.

"GOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING KATNISSSSSS!" Tony's voice came loudly from the somehow discrete speakers in the ceiling.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH! HOLY SHIT!" exclaimed Clint, tumbling out of bed.

Upstairs, Tony was laughing madly at his lab table, clutching the microphone he used to make announcements, or wake up calls, with the speakers.

Yes, all the bedrooms in Stark Tower had hidden speakers. No one really knows why.

Clint rubbed his head. "Dammit Stark! What the hell was that for?!" he shouted angrily at the ceiling.

"Because I wanted to," snickered Tony.

Clint groaned. No one can get a day of peace with Stark around.

"Still though, better move your ass over to SHIELD, Legolas. Cyclops is waiting," said Tony.

"I'm going to shoot an arrow to your prototype suit," growled Clint, standing up and rubbing his head.

"Not before I blast you back to Budapest," said Tony with the rare 'I'm talkin' the real deal' tone.

"...Screw you."

"No thank you, I'm engaged. Now move it, Merida." With that, Tony turned off his microphone.

Clint narrowed his eyes at the ceiling and got dressed with his uniform. He walked down the stairs to the main floor, mumbling and cursing at Tony.

_Damn Tony... Damn Stark... Damn light sleep..._

It was surprisingly not loud in the kitchen that morning. Steve was already dressed, drinking coffee. Peter was eating cereal, talking with Pepper. Bruce was reading the newspaper.

It was peaceful.

Unusually peaceful.

_Too peaceful..._

Meh, probably because Tony wasn't there.

He shrugged as he stifled a yawn. "Morning," he greeted.

"Hey," nodded Peter.

"Where's Tasha?" asked Clint.

"Asleep," Peter drank orange juice.

Clint raised an eyebrow. "Is she ditching work?" he asked.

Everyone in the kitchen glanced at Clint.

"No," said Steve slowly.

"Then why isn't she up?" asked Clint.

"It's Sunday," finished Peter.

Clint glanced at the large calendar on the wall.

Sunday.

…

 _Stark is going to pay_.

"STARRRRRK!" Clint yelled and ran to the elevator. There was a beep of the elevator going up, then a loud slam.

Silence.

Then the clear voice of Tony came on the speakers in the kitchen.

"Clint.....What are you doing?"

A enraged Clint replied.

"Stark, I've had it. I need my sleep. Very much."

"Why.....Why are you getting that wrench?"

 

Then the loud thuds and clanking of metal erupted.

"AHHH KATNISSS NOOO!"

"DAMN YOU STARK!"

"GET OFF OF ME! OWW! FUCK!"

"I NEED MY DAMN SLEEP. YOU'RE GOING TO PAY!"

"NO!"

Thud.

Silence.

There was the sound of footsteps and a faint beep from the elevator.

"Ow..." whined Tony in agony.

A few moments later, Clint came back down from the lab, looking bruise less and stoic.

"I will be sleeping," he stated and went back to his floor.

Not long after that, Tony came back on the speakers in the kitchen.

"Pep, can you come and help me?" he asked, voice in pure pain.

Pepper thought about it for a moment. "No."

A strange noise between a dying whale and groan came from the speakers as they shut off.

It was silent again for a few moments in the kitchen.

Peter glanced at the speakers, then at the elevator. Then the elevator to the speakers.

"How....why......what?" he asked.

A week in and he witnessed the most craziest thing in living here. Well, so far.

_What the hell did I just witness?_

Steve sighed and just continued drinking his coffee.

Bruce looked at the elevator and shrugged. He turned around to face Pepper.

"So how's your morning?" asked Bruce.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can relate to this chapter. Can you? 
> 
> Every single time you comment, Jack Frost gives you a kiss on the cheek. 
> 
> You know you can't resist the Frost.


	4. Dinner with the Avengers: Budapest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> But yes, it was all comfortable and nice.
> 
> Until Tony Stark dropped his fork.

Dinner with the Avengers: Budapest

* * *

It was silent around the dinner table.

In the main dining room, everyone was eating silently. The spaghetti Pepper had made was fantastic as usual. Peter glanced around, comfortable with the silence and the casualness.

Here, they didn't have to be fancy or dress up for dinner. Unless it was for a special occasion, let it be a business meeting or a really formal event. Tony though, always had to wash up and change his clothes before he even stepped inside the dining room.

Which was kind of useless, because he worked on his prototypes after dinner and ended up with more oil on himself than he had before.

Everyone wore some jeans a long sleeve shirt. Even though the tower had the heater on, you could still feel the cold radiating from the large windows.

But yes, it was all comfortable and nice.

Until Tony Stark dropped his fork.

"I have to know." he stated firmly.

Clint had barely put some a meatball in his mouth when he looked over to Tony.

"Have to know what?" he asked, chewing his meatball.

"Budapest."

And that was when shit began going down.

It was silent once again.

Natasha wiped her mouth with a napkin slowly before she spoke.

"Budapest."

"Yes. Budapest," Tony nodded firmly.

She folded her napkin in half and put it next to the plate. "Why?" she asked.

"Because it's been driving me crazy!" Tony lightly pounded his fist on the table. "It's been almost half a year and you still haven't drop a single damn hint!"

"Oh good lord," sighed Clint.

"Stark has a point though; what did happen in Budapest anyways?" asked Steve.

"See? Now you got the Captain curious!" said Tony. "That's how desperate we want to know!"

"Hey!" exclaimed Steve.

"Budapest?" asked Peter, confused on the situation.

Tony looked at Peter, frowning. "Wait a sec, didn't you hear-Oh. Right. You were in Seattle. Well, to put it bluntly, Budapest is apparently these guys," he pointed to Natasha and Clint "major secret."

Both Natasha and Clint sighed again.

"Yet they oh so happened to bring it up in the battle of our lives, which sparked my curiosity therefore I have to know."

"Tony-" began Clint.

"I know you're going to deny it happened, Katniss!" proclaimed Tony.

"Tony! Let me finish!"

"I have evidence! JARVIS!" Tony called up to the ceiling to the unseen speakers.

"Yes sir?" asked the AI.

"Play it."

"...You recorded the conversation?" asked Clint.

"Shut up Barton, it was on the team comm. link. Play it!"

On the speakers, the dim noises of gunshots sounded. Then, clear as day, you could hear Natasha's voice.

"This is like Budapest all over again!"

"You and I remember Budapest  _very_ differently."

Tony looked over at Natasha and Clint. "Well? Whatcha got to say to that?" he asked.

It was silent for a few moments at the dinner table.

"You recorded the fucking conversation?" asked Clint.

"Clint! Language!" exclaimed Pepper.

"Sorry, Pepper." Clint quickly apologized. "But seriously Tony, why would you record that?!"

"Don't look at me! Jarvis does it by default!"

"Actually sir, you told me to record and save that part."

"Shut up, Jarv. Nobody asked you. Back to the point," Tony lifted his fork and pointed to Natasha and Clint.

"What happened in Budapest?"

Natasha glanced at Clint. "Um..."

"Wait...Is Budapest a code for sex?" asked Tony.

"Tony!" exclaimed Bruce.

"We're eating dinner!" added Pepper.

"And Peter is listening to everything!" Steve motioned over to Peter, who was staring awkwardly at his spaghetti, trying to recollect what he had just heard.

"Oh... Right, I'm sorry Pete. I truly am," apologized Tony.

"It's okay," said Peter, a little disturbed from what he had just heard. He swallowed some spaghetti.

"Okay, since lil Petey here is kind of disturbed, let's make it easier for everybody." announced Tony.

"You're going to stop talking?" asked Clint.

"Nope. Did you two fondue?" asked Tony.

Steve nearly choked on his iced tea.

Clint and Natasha looked at each other, then at Tony.

" _Fondue_?" asked Natasha.

"Oh yeah." grinned Tony.

Steve cleared his throat and looked at Tony. "How?!" he exclaimed.

"Dad told me," snickered Tony. "Perfect blackmail."

"Fondue?" asked Bruce, still confused about the situation.

"Like cheese and bread?" asked Peter.

That caused Steve even more despair. He held his head in his hands. "Sweet lord..." he muttered, hoping for them to move on and change the subject.

"Do I tell them?" asked Tony.

"No. Please don't," replied Steve, desperate.

"Still gonna tell them."

"I am so done with you, Tony Stark."

"You'll still love me anyways Capsicle. Steve thought fondue meant sex."

Bruce bit his lip, trying not to chuckle.

Peter quickly cleared his throat and began standing up. "Excuse me," he mumbled.

"See Tony?! This is why we can't have dinner in peace!" Pepper slapped Tony's arm.

"I'm actually done eating, it's okay," said Peter, picking up his plate. "I'm not hungry anymore."

"What about dessert?" asked Pepper.

"What are we having?" asked Peter.

"Fondue," smirked Tony.

It was silent again.

This time Steve sighed and stood up. "I think I'm going to sleep early tonight."

Tony cracked up. Pepper rolled her eyes and slapped his arm. "Tony."

"Ow!" he rubbed his arm. "What?" asked Tony.

"Behave."

"I was kidding! It's actually souffle!" he announced.

"Not hungry anyways," Peter replied. "Sorry Pepper."

"It's okay Peter. Don't worry about it," smiled Pepper. "Blame Tony." she

"Hey!"

"The spaghetti was good though," said Steve.

"Thank you Steve."

"Now you're just trying to escape, huh?" asked Tony.

"Wouldn't blame him, Buckethead."

"Shut it Merida."

"At least I get new comebacks, dumbass."

"Language!" exclaimed Pepper.

"Sorry Pep."

"Tell me what happened in Budapest, Legolas!" Tony pounded his fist lightly on the table.

"Never!"

"I'll just leave now..." Peter crept out of the room silently.

"I'll go with you," said Steve.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, now all of y'all are caught up with the story over in fanfiction. Chapter 5 is on the way! 
> 
> Every time you comment, Castiel eats a hamburger.
> 
> Just a thought.


	5. The Weirdest Midnight Trip to the Kitchen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Speaking of the crazy, apparently Clint likes to sleep in other places that is not his bed.
> 
> Especially the main kitchen.

It had been three weeks of living with the Avengers and so much crazy has happened.

No, Bruce hasn't hulked out. There hasn't been an alien invasion in Manhattan. There hasn't been any freak storms or blizzards. There hasn't been _that_  many explosions from Tony's lab yet.

But one of the crazy things was the fact that Peter continued living life...normally.

Ironic coming from the guy who's Spider-Man.

Peter had continued going to school. It was way easier than he expected. He just woke up earlier than he did before and took the subway. Tony insisted that he took one of his cars, but showing up to Midtown in a very expensive looking Mercedes was going to raise a lot of questions and the last thing Peter wanted was attention.

Besides, Peter didn't know how to drive to save his life.

You see, Spider-Man had been laying low for the past two years. Ever since the Lizard incident, he took a small break from crime busting. But less than a month later, he was back in the game. But this time, he stayed out of the tabloids or the police's attention.

…..

Okay, maybe they did want to arrest him just a  _little_ bit...

...Or a lot...

But that didn't stop him from being the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man that most of Queens knew and loved.

Before the Avengers showed up, he had to deal with criminals in Queens.

And even after the Avengers made their stay in Manhattan permanent, he still continued being Spider-Man.

Some things just didn't change.

And well, y'all know the rest. SHIELD came in, Budapest talk, speakers in the ceilings, Katniss, AC/DC, Merida and yeah.

Peter continued being himself. AP Student, good kid.

But he hasn't hung up his suit for good. It's in the back of his new closet, ready to be used. It might have collected some dust though, but it's nothing a quick clean can't fix.

But moving into the household, the crazy always followed.

The Avengers were celebrities. Well, who wouldn't be famous after saving both New York and the world from Loki and the Chitauri army?

People expect celebrities to live the life. Y'know, go to wine tastings, have the luxuries, the glamorous, fabulous Tony Stark/Fergie life.

But that's not the stereotype the Avengers file under.

They have the strangest household with the most eclectic members.

Speaking of the crazy, apparently Clint likes to sleep in other places that is not his bed.

Especially the main kitchen.

* * *

3:40 AM

Peter was half asleep, thirsty and tired. He rolled out of bed, mumbling and wanting a glass of water.

Or milk. Something that would suit his thirst. Anything really.

He put on his glasses and began heading down to the kitchen.

Jarvis, being the badass AI he is, turned on the lights in the living room in order for PEter not to trip.

"Thanks Jarvis," mumbled Peter.

He was getting used to having a very polite AI around the tower. It kind of reminded him of google. He asked to find someone or where to go and it would lead him. He couldn't find someone, all he had to do was ask Jarvis.

Jarvis was a really cool AI. And he had a British accent, which made it ten time better than he already was.

Heck, Tony had Jarvis sync Peter's music library [giving him props on it being free of Train and anything related to their music and Clint flipping Tony off] so whenever Peter felt like it, he could listen to his music on the speakers.

So far, the Avengers had been treating him kindly. It couldn't stop him from feeling awkward though. He was used to being a loner. And seeing the Avengers interact and play with each other was... fairly new to him.

He made it to the kitchen and searched for a plastic cup. In the end, he settled on getting some milk. Too lazy to get some water anyways.

He set the cup on the counter and headed over to the refrigerator.

"Morning Webhead," greeted a voice slyly.

"AHHH!" Peter yelped, jumping and clinging onto the wall.

He couldn't help it. It was instinct that came with the bite. Well, it was more like him and the bite mixed. He was jumpy before the bite. And somehow, the habit of jumping to the nearest wall came along.

There was laughter coming from the top of the refrigerator.

"Clint?!" exclaimed Peter.

"Hahahaha! Got you good!" laughed Clint, sitting cross legged on top of the refrigerator. He was in his pajamas and there was a blanket behind him.

"What the hell was that for?" asked Peter, not moving from the wall.

"For a minute, I thought you were Stark. The you turned out to not be him. But since I was already here, why not scare ya?" Clint smirked.

"Aren't you supposed to be asleep? It's 3 in the morning!" exclaimed Peter.

"I sleep over here sometimes. Just to scare Stark or Steve," replied Clint.

On the speakers, a sleepy sounding Tony announced.

"Ahem, Barton, please go the fuck to sleep. You too Parks and Recreation. It's a school night."

Peter froze.

_How..._

"That's right, Peter. I know you watch that show religiously. And I know you watch Hart of Dixie too, Hawkass."

"It was one time! Bruce talked me into it!" Clint said to the ceiling.

"Said the man that has all the seasons on Netflix!" countered Tony.

There was some noise in the background.

"All three of you, go to sleep," said an exhausted Steve.

"How did you get the mike to your room, Capsicle?" asked Tony, puzzled.

"You left it there last night after you two foundued," Clint said with a smirk.

"Shut the fuck Merida," replied Tony.

"Make me Tony. You're talking from a speaker right now."

"All I want is a glass of milk!" exclaimed Peter.

"Stark, Barton, Peter, go to sleep. Or I'll bring in Tasha."

…...

"Goodnight guys. I value my life," Clint picked up his blanket and crawled into the air ducts.

"Night Capsicle. Parks and Recreation, Hawkass," Tony turned off his mike.

"See you in the morning." Steve sighed and went back to sleep.

Peter was left in silence as he poured himself a glass of milk. Once it was empty, he put the glass in the sink, the milk in the refrigerator and turned off the lights.

The lights in the main room shut off as he entered the hallway and into his room.

He crawled back into his bed and he looked at the ceiling for a few minutes.

That was...The  _weirdest_  midnight trip to the kitchen.

Ever.

Then again, weird was only an understatement in the Avengers household.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback is very appreciated!


	6. "Tell me about the Avengers."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh shit.
> 
> Someone knew.

"Tell me about the Avengers."

* * *

 

Peter was in AP Physics when he heard the most five plot twisting words ever.

"Tell me about the Avengers."

Oh shit.

Someone knew.

"What are you talking about?!" he exclaimed a little too loudly, earning some strange glances from the other students around the room.

There was a small laugh coming from the seat in front of him. He looked up and saw who it was.

Gwen Stacy.

"Oh hi Gwen..." mumbled Peter.

"Sooo are you going to tell me about your super housemates or...?" asked Gwen.

Other than Aunt May, Gwen was the only one that knew of his new address, temporary headquarters and life. The reason was simple: he trusted Gwen with his life and secrets.

And apparently, she has taken an interest on what it's like to live in a household full of crazy.

Peter looked around. For all he knew, Clint could be hiding in the air ducts. Or there could be SHIELD agents disguised as students around him.

"Can I tell you later? Like after school? Somewhere private?" he asked.

Gwen raised her eyebrows. "Wow, that much of a secret to keep from your girlfriend?" she asked sarcastically.

_[Yep. They're in a relationship. Big surprise. Actually, not really. Y'all saw it coming anyways.]_

"No, it's not that...More like there could be SHIELD agents listening to us right now," replied Peter, eyes darting quickly around the room, looking at the air ducts.

Gwen thought about it, then she nodded. "Agreed. My house after school?" she asked.

"Yes."

If Peter was going to keep one secret from his new housemates, it would have to be him being in a relationship.

He could already imagine the comments from Tony and Clint...

"Hello? This is Tony Stark speaking on the intercom for everyone in the household to hear. I would like to announce that Peter has a girlfriend. That is all."

Yeah, Tony would do that.

On the other hand, Clint would be more snarky. He would most likely pop up in the air ducts of Peter's room and yell "Use protection!"

Steve might just shrug it off. He doesn't ponder into people's lives like Stark.

With Natasha, she might want to meet Gwen. They could become best friends for all he knew.

Bruce won't really care.

But overall, he just wanted to keep Gwen a secret. Other than the teasing, the true reason why was that SHIELD knew everything about him. They knew about his parents, the Lizard incident, the double life, his uncle, where he lived and currently lives, his night vocation of being Spider-Man.

For all he knows, SHIELD could know his own shoe size and if he ever got a detention in middle school.

They knew his personal life more than he knew it himself.

The feeling of keeping something a secret can be different to others. It can bring a burden, relief, alarm, peace, anything.

For Peter, it brought comfort.

Keeping Gwen and him being in a relationship a secret made him feel normal. A normal high school kid that has a girlfriend.

When he was with Gwen, he was normal.

The quiet, shy kid that sat behind her in Pre-AP physics in the 10th grade before his life changed.

* * *

_After school..._

* * *

They decide to get some coffee, just for the heck of it. The cool autumn winds were starting to develop in Queens and coffee was just awesome. They stayed in the coffee shop for a while then headed to Gwen's place.

Peter glanced around Gwen's room. Oh he missed it. It was a nice room. Brought back memories of jumping in through the window, having late night chats, hanging out, kissing and just being himself.

"Feels like home," he sighed, tossing his backpack onto the floor.

Gwen's room did feel like home. He was comfortable there. It was a place he was familiar with and where he can let loose and be him.

He sat down at the foot of her bed as Gwen sat down on the chair.

"Now will you tell me about the super housemates?" she asked.

"Yeah," smiled Peter. "Where do I start?"

"Start with Captain America."

_Hmm. The Cap..._

"Well...You know some stuff about him. He was frozen in ice for 70 years, woke up in this world."

"I mean like how is he? Funny? Friendly?" asked Gwen.

"Well...He's serious."

It was true. Steve was a serious man. And well mannered. He had his moments of adjusting to the 21st century though...

"Like, how serious?" asked Gwen.

Peter bit his lip, thinking. "Well... He's polite. But he has his 'what the hell is this' moments. I mean, things really change after being in the ice for 70 years... He's adjusting. But Tony just likes to mess with him and they argue a lot. Clint thinks that they need to just have sex and get over with it, but he's just being a smartass..."

Gwen frowned. "Who's Clint?"

_Oh right. Secret identity._

"Hawkeye. He's the guy with the arrows," Peter explained.

"Oh... I remember him! Saw him on the news, my cousin has a major crush on him... He's a smartass?" asked Gwen.

"Yeah. And he has a short temper with Tony. One time, he actually kicked his ass after waking him up with speakers."

"Speakers? Are you kidding me?" Gwen chuckled.

"Nope. All of the rooms, the kitchen, labs, and training wings have speakers. Like an intercom, except that Tony uses it for personal purposes...Like waking someone up or doing whatever he wants to do with them."

"And Black Widow?"

"Natasha? She's just Natasha. Tony picks on her but he ends up backing off because she will kick his ass in a blink of an eye."

"How is Tony like in real life?"

"He's pretty cool," Peter said with a nod. "Snarky as hell."

"Will he let you drive one of his cars soon?"

"Doubt it."

The his phone began beeping loudly.

Peter pulled out his phone from his pocket.

Tony Stark.

"Who is it?" asked Gwen.

"Tony..." mumbled Peter. "I'm sorry...Give me a minute..."

"No, it's fine. Don't worry."

Peter answered "Hello?"

" _Parks and Recreation, it's almost 6 PM. Maybe you should start heading back or SHIELD will sent some agents onto your ass. Don't ask me, it's Cyclops who made this rule. See you."_

Tony hung up.

Wow. Time flew by really fast.

Peter groaned again. "I'm sorry, I have to go..."

"Curfew?" asked Gwen.

"Yeah. I didn't know about it. I'm sorry," Peter stood up and began picking up his backpack.

"No, it's okay. I'll text you later," said Gwen, following Peter out to the door.

He opened the front door and leaned against the doorway. "Sooooo..."

Gwen rolled her eyes and gave him a hug. "There. Now go before you get grounded by your super housemates."

"See you." Peter headed onto the street and to the subway.

* * *

_Later..._

* * *

Peter arrived to the tower and went up to the main floor. He glanced at his phone screen.

7:13 PM

_Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck my lifeeeee._

He groaned once the elevator went ding.

_Ughhhhhh._

Knowing his impending doom, he stepped out and walked onto the main floor.

"So, the Spider has finally arrived," said Tony, sitting on the leather couch.

"Hey guys," greeted Peter sheepishly with a wave.

"Oh! You made it just in time. Dinner is ready," said Pepper.

Peter set down his backpack on the couch and headed to the dining room.

"Sorry I'm late," he apologized as he sat down.

"Who were you with?" asked Tony suddenly.

"Huh?" asked Peter.

"One does not simply go out into the city for two hours without being with someone," said Tony.

"...I go out into the city for two hours without being someone..." said Steve.

"You don't count in that statistic, Capsicle. You're Steve. Anywho," Tony directed his attention to Peter.

"Girlfriend?" he asked.

Peter's eyes widened.

_How did he know?_

"Peter, I was a teenager also. Don't act so surprised," said Tony smoothly.

"Who's the girl?" asked Clint as he bit a enchilada.

_So much for keeping this a secret..._

"How long have you been together?" asked Tony.

"Tony," Pepper warned. "Leave him alone."

"Fine, fine..." Tony raised his hands in defeat. "Can I at least know her name?" he asked.

"Gwen Stacy."

There was a slight moment of shock when Tony dropped his fork.

"Tony?" asked Steve.

"Gwen Stacy as in top Oscorp employee?" he asked.

Peter nodded. "Yeah..."

After the Lizard incident and reconstruction in both Queens and Manhattan, Oscorp returned, only much more different and improved. They resumed their work, only no longer following Dr. Connor's studies. Gwen now worked there full time and Peter didn't really want to associate with the company anymore. He kept his distance from both the building and company.

"I've seen her work. Impressive," he bit some of his steak. "For an Oscorp employee," he added with a mumble.

_Say what?_

"Um, what?" asked Peter.

"Basically, Oscorp has been a pain in the ass for Stark Industries since they got founded," said Tony.

"I've seen that," said Pepper. "They have tried to pass as Stark employees to get files a few times in the past," she added.

"I've seen their formulas and lay outs. Not impressive," shrugged Tony.

"So in other words, Oscorp is Stark Industries main rival?" asked Steve.

"Pretty much."

Well, that took a turn. They didn't talk about Gwen. And he was glad for that. And he got some of the info on the rivalry between Oscorp and Stark Industries.

"Just being curious, but exactly how many times had they tried to pass as an Stark Industries employee?" asked Bruce.

"I think over the past seven years, it has been...around 8 times."

Clint let out a whistle. "Wow. They really don't give up," he remarked.

"So far this year, those suckers haven't tried to sneak in. But just in case, I implemented Jarvis's security system and firewall. Now whoever walks in the front doors of Stark Industries will get an automatic background check. And it's now practically impossible to hack anything here, being your laptops, phones and whatever unless I do so."

"So, Jarvis basically gave us a really good free antivirus?" asked Clint.

"Yep."

"You're welcome," said Jarvis smoothly.

That earned a small chuckle around the table.

"Oh yeah... The curfew thing," said Tony. "SHIELD doesn't want you to be in exposure of danger, yadda yadda. I'm tired of talking. Tasha?"

"They don't want you to get hurt," Natasha spoke. "SHIELD thinks you have good potential and the crime at night has gotten increasingly worse."

"Then who's out there?" asked Peter.

"Cops," said Clint after taking a small swig of water.

"Oh..."

"Which explains the curfew thing. The latest they want you to stay out it 6 PM. Because after that, it get's worse than it already is," said Natasha.

"That explains it..." said Peter.

"Sorry kid. It's Cyclops's idea," said Tony.

"No, no, it's alright. Don't worry about it," said Peter.

And so the strangely calm dinner continued.

They talked as they ate, laughing at the jokes, having a nice time. There wasn't an argument like before and it was a moment of unity between seven completely different individuals.

For once, Peter felt comfortable in the household.

It wasn't the best dinner ever, but it was going to be a nice one to remember.

Once dinner was over, they parted ways, each to their respective floor.

Peter sat at his desk as he pulled out his homework.

Something was missing...

He looked around and picked up his pen and began working on the assignment when he heard a small chuckle coming from the air vent.

"Use protection!" Clint yelled.

...

Yep, that was missing.

He sighed as he continued his Calculus assignment, knowing that the teasing was just getting started...


	7. Surprise, Surprise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Annnnnnnnnd here goes the tributes for the hallway games! And may the odds be ever in your favor. Especially you, ladies of Theater. Especially you."

A few days later, there was an unexpected announcement in Midtown Science High School.

Peter had entered 1st period AP Government a few minutes before the warning bell rang. He would have gotten there earlier, but the subway had some troubles. Nevertheless, he made it in time.

He went to his seat and listened to the announcements over the intercom.

“Goooood mooooooooorniiiing today to everyone here at Midtown! This is Luke Cage, coming to you guys LIVE from the front office! We hope you had a wonderful weekend! If you didn’t, well too bad! I don’t care!”

Peter smothered his chuckle.

Even though he didn’t knew him well, Luke Cage was the morning and afternoon announcer. And a funny one at that. He was sarcastic and loud, something that woke up the students in the morning.

But it still left the entire world wondering why he hasn’t gotten kicked out yet of his vocation....

“I know, everyone is probably falling asleep right now.... And I get that. But I don’t care, because I drank four cups of coffee and I am awake! Moving on, there will be JV football practice and JV and Varsity cheerleading practice today in the football field right after school. It’s gonna be a really important practice, so don’t be all up in each other’s pants or skirt behind the bleachers, especially you Mr. Running Back Leo Fratt and Miss Cheer Captain Lizandra Perez. We are gettin’ reaaaaal tired of you two making out in the hallway. And by we, I mean everybody.”

Everyone turned around to see a blushing Lizandra in the back of the classroom. They all smothered a chuckle.

Peter silently agreed with the rest of the class. Leo and Lizandra always made out near his locker. And it got almost graphic sometimes, looking like they were about to eat each other. A very unpleasant way to start your school day.

“Leo, you’re my homie and all, but hashtag, the more you know. Anywho, the Student Council will be having their meeting today in room 134 to take care of Fall fundraising. If you can’t make it, please email Mr. Gill or Mrs. Ross so they can forward you the agenda as soon as possible. Marching band will have rehearsal today in the competition gym from 4-6 PM. Please get picked up by 6:30 PM. Quoting the cops and security officers, we don’t wanna deal with you guys after hours. I’m talking to you, Juan Perez and Henry Moss of drumline. Chess Club has been canceled today but the meeting will be held tomorrow in room 205A. Be there or be checkmate....Get it? Cause it’s chess? No?”

There was a pause.

“Man, you guys have no sense of humor. Get your lives together. ANYWAYS. And since this is Homecoming Week and we follow tradition here, for the most part, you know what this means......Hallway decorating contest!”

Yep. Hallway decorating. Midtown attempted to make school spirit apparent. They usually succeeded, a major accomplishment for any public school in Queens. Besides, it was late September, the highest peak of football season in almost every high school.

“This year, the themes is dancing through the decades! There will be the eight hallways to be judged: the main hallway, the science wing, the fine arts hall, the gyms, the Language Arts hallway, the math hall, the extracurricular hall and,” Luke paused dramatically. “The dungeon.”

One of the most famous halls in all of Midtown. The dungeon was one of the creepiest hallways of the school. There was always really weird noises, like thuds, bangs and scraping. It was always unnaturally cold in the hall, mostly because the heater was always busting.

People said that the reason why it was really cold was because it was haunted.

Surprise, surprise.

Of course they would think it was haunted. Of course.

Unlike other high schools, everyone thought that was bullshit. Including most of Midtown. It may be a semi-slightly unstable public high school, but nobody has died there. Well, to their knowledge of course.

But the true reason why was because it was near the swimming pool and not too far from the gyms hall. Not to mention it was the basement floor and it was partly built underground. And Queens can be super cold sometimes, especially around Midtown. And it was logical of them, Peter believed it.

But it was still a creepy hall.

“Annnnnnnnnd here goes the tributes for the hallway games! And may the odds be ever in your favor. Especially you, ladies of Theater. Especially you. The science hall first floor: Junior and Sophomore officers! Science hall second floor: FFA and FFCLA! The Math hall: Junior and Seniors of JROTC.......Bro tip, try not kill each other, we don’t want a repeat of August. Do you hear me JUNIOR WEST? You don’t hit a senior with a binder and not expect to get hit back! Get it right! The Fine Arts hall: theater club and advanced choir. Extracurricular hall: Seniors and Freshmen officers.......Oh snap.....Y’all better follow the bro tip more than the JROTC guys. Please please please don’t try to kill each other. Think of the children. The children. The gyms hall: swimming team and lacrosse. Good luck you two! And now, the final tributes: Yearbook and Academic Decathlon....”

Peter paid more attention to the intercom. He was in Yearbook club, so he had to know.

“....Hold up...... Whoa whoa whoa whoa. Plot twist to the max! You guys are going to get the dungeon hall!”

Everyone automatically looked over at Peter, him being the only Yearbook student in the class at the time.

What?

“Well.....Good luck to all the competitors! Meeting rooms for the competitors will be announced at 3PM. Have a fantastic day, try your best in class, don’t start fights or I will cut you with a plastic spoon. Luke Cage, out!”

Peter leaned down on the desk, not wanting any more looks upon him.

The intercom cut off with a flinch worthy screech.

“Well......Open your textbook to page 293 and take notes on section 3 and 4,” said the teacher, seemingly unfazed with the intercom screech.

The students all followed suit, the classroom filled with silence.

Peter read the sections and took notes, but his mind was on other things.

Decorating the hallway wasn’t so bad. In fact, sometimes it was fun. Mostly because they merge two completely different groups together and pure humor happens. Last year, the yearbook club had to work with the step team in the gyms hall and boy was that a week to remember.

But out of all the hallways in the school....the dungeon?

Gets stuck with the creepiest hallway of the school. Story of my life.

He didn’t believe in ghosts, but he didn’t exactly like the dungeon. It was a creepy hallway. He had to go down there for 3rd and 7th period everyday.

But it was going to be okay. He didn’t mind being with the Academic Decathlon team. Gwen was there anyways.

Then something suddenly came to his mind.

The Avengers.

Oh crap.

Well, they would understand.

Hopefully.

* * *

Later on that day after school, Peter took the subway and arrived home.

“Hey Tony.”

“Hey Leslie Knope.”

“How....Don’t judge me,” mumbled Peter, walking by.

Yep. Parks and Recreation. Tony was never going to let him live that down.

Tony let out a satisfied snicker.

“What are you doing up here anyways? Aren’t you down in your cave or something?” asked Peter.

“Wrong billionaire, Pete. I would be down there, but I needed to get something to eat,” Tony gestured to the bag of chips he was holding.

“Oh yeah, I have to talk to you about something....”

“Which is....”

“I need to stay late after school for the rest of the week. From 4 to 8-ish.”

Tony let out a whistle. “Damn, kid. What did you do? Blow up the Principal’s office?”

Peter rolled his eyes. Of course he would think he was in trouble. Of course. “Actually, it’s for homecoming week.”

“Ohhh, gotcha, gotcha. Well...... You’re going to have to have somebody stay with you over there. Cyclops’s idea.”

Oh right.

“Well, who?”

“One of us. Tasha, Capsicle, me, Hawkass, Bruce, I don’t know. I’ll ask at dinner.”

“Oh, okay.”

“Right. Your aunt called. Said something for you to drop by tomorrow or so.”

“I’ll call her in a little bit.”

“Good, good.....How was school today?”

Peter was surprised. Tony never asked Peter how his day was. Usually it was Pepper or Steve.

“It was good,” Peter replied, still surprised.

“That’s nice to hear,” Tony crumbled the bag of chips and tossed it into the trash can. “See you at dinner.”

By the time Peter could reply, the billionaire was in the elevator and heading down to the lab.

* * *

“Aunt?”

“About time you answered!”

Peter smiled. He missed hearing his aunt’s voice. “Hey.”

“I was about to go down there and get you myself, was your phone off?” she asked.

“Yeah, sorry. School rules. I think I forgot to turn it on when I was on the subway...”

“No worries sweetie. How was school?”

“It was good,” Peter walked around idly. He was in his room and had time to kill. “How’s life?”

“The same. How are your super housemates treating you?” asked his aunt.

“Surprisingly, good. They’re cool.”

“Wait....You’re still taking the subway? I thought Tony Stark had someone to take you to school.”

“I don’t want to push them, it’s okay.”

“Are you sure?”

“Besides, I can’t drive to save my life. It’s okay.”

“Okay.......Have you been out lately?”

Peter frowned. “Huh?”

“Wait, let me rephrase that....Have you been out at night, as Spider-Man?”

“Oh! No, no I haven’t....”

And it was the truth. He had gone a month without putting on the suit and he was getting a little bit antsy. It was still there, in his closet. It probably collected dust, but it was nothing a quick clean wouldn’t deal.

Like he was told, he had to put up his suit for a little bit. He didn’t know how long it would last. He considered breaking the rules, just to go out and do a little bit of crime busting a few times, but he couldn’t risk it. They were direct orders from Nick Fury. And like Tony said “His secrets have secrets and those secrets have more.”

“Well.....Okay....” his aunt didn’t sound convinced.

“I have a curfew.”

“Oh!” she exclaimed. “And when you thought SHIELD didn’t get enough control of your life....” she added with a scoff.

“It’s not that bad. Just be at the tower by 7. And it’s getting darker earlier now.”

“Well, that’s understandable. But SHIELD has two agents outside and where I work. I don’t like it,” she replied.

“It’s for protection. There are some crazy people out there.”

“Fine....And how’s Gwen?” she asked, changing the subject.

“She’s doing well...”

“Mr. Parker, dinner is served,” announced the AI.

“Thanks Jarv.”

“Who was that?” asked his aunt.

“The British AI Jarvis.”

“................What?”

“Yeah, I’ll explain later. Gotta go,” Peter began turning off the light. “Dinner is served.”

“Alright.....Bye Peter, take care.”

“Same to you. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

They hung up as they both went to their separate destinations in different parts of New York.

* * *

“So Peter, how was school?” asked Pepper.

“It was good.”

“This tastes amazing. Great job Pepper,” said Clint taking a bite of the steak.

Pepper smiled. “I didn’t make it tonight.” she replied.

It was silent around the table as all eyes landed on Steve.

“What?” he asked when he saw all the gazes on him. “What happened?”

“Did you cook this?” asked Tony.

“Why does everyone assume it was me?!”

“Whoa there Cap. It’s just a question,” said the billionaire, raising his hands in defeat.

Bruce chuckled behind his glass of water.

“I cooked it.”

Everyone turned around to Natasha.

“You cook?!” asked Tony, surprised.

“Yeah.”

“Wow.....That’s unexpected,” he said, still a bit perplexed.

“Tell me about it,” mumbled Clint.

Natasha rolled her eyes.

“Well, in that case, this tastes wonderful, Natasha” said Bruce.

“Thank you Bruce,” replied Natasha politely. “At least he’s polite,” she mumbled under her breath, loud enough for Clint and Tony to hear.

“Hey, I was very surprised,” argued Clint. “Like that one time in-”

“Budapest. I called it,” said Tony.

“Changing the subject,” said Pepper, elbowing Tony.

“Ow! Ow! That actually hurts! Fine. We’ll change the subject. You guys are no fun. Anyways, Peter is going to be staying late at school and Eyepatch still wants someone to watch iver him. Who volunteers as tribute?”

“Did you blow something up?” asked Natasha, mildly suspicious. “I know you were into Science but blowing something up isn’t going to help you out in anything.

Peter resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “It’s not detention. It’s for homecoming week.”

“Ah! Homecoming! That was always fun,” smirked Tony.

“What are you going to do?” asked Pepper.

“Decorate the dungeon.”

Everyone shot Peter a confused look.

“Basement hall.”

“Ohhh okay okay,” everyone let out sounds of understanding.

“It’s partially built underground and it’s a cold hallway.”

“Well, I won’t be able to do it,” said Bruce. “High school kids.” he looked over at Peter. “No offense.”

“None taken.”

“I won’t be able to do it either.”

“Same here.”

“I’m not even an Avenger.”

“I’ll do it.”

Everyone turned to Clint who was halfway done with his steak.

“What?” asked Tony, surprised.

“I have nothing planned. It’s not biggie. I can sneak through the vents,” he replied.

“What?”

“Out of all the people....”

Peter looked around the table confused. Everyone started talking at once, the voices overlapping all with different arguments and statements like it was debate class.

After two minutes of solid arguing, Peter decided to stop them.

“Wait, wait wait wait! Can someone clarify?” asked Peter, confused.

Clint smirked. “I’m going to high school with you, Webhead.”

_Oh boy._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are appreciated!


	8. The Hawk in The Vents

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What is this life I have to live?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow...Has it really been three months? -sweatdrop- Ehehehe, hey guys! I apologize for the whole 'enters to class three months late with Starbucks' update. But at least I didn't pull a Pete Wentz and arrived four years late. I am so so so happy Fall Out Boy is back. 
> 
> Everything has been crazy over the past few months in both fiction and real life. High school got gooooood! All thanks to certain things and...people. Or a certain person...Great, now I'm grinning and blushing like a Japanese anime schoolgirl. Welp.
> 
> Anyways, guess who is in a theatre production once again? This girl! Except that instead of working behind the scenes like I've been doing for the past three productions, I'm onstage. I am now Margot in The Diary of Anne Frank. Woo!
> 
> But yeah! I'm back with a 1k+ chapter! How's that for a comeback? This one has references all around, not too many, but they're definitely in here. It's also a bit deep, not sure how much, but it's deep.
> 
> Disclaimer is obviously still the same. Enjoy~

The Hawk in the Vents

* * *

The next day, Peter was definitely rethinking his life choices.

_I can't believe I'm actually doing this._

Somehow, Clint had snuck into the air vents during 2nd period.

And was lost.

At first, Peter thought it was a joke. Clint was an agent of SHIELD. He was an assassin. He had gone to secret missions in countries Peter didn't even know existed. He helped kicked Loki's ass. He does car commercials in- [1]

…...Okay, maybe not the last part, but who knew? Maybe that's what happened in Budapest. You seriously don't know what exactly goes on in an agent's life, especially Clint.

Ironically, in all seriousness, one of the top agents of SHIELD was lost.

In a school air duct system.

What is this life I have to live?

Peter had forgotten to turn his phone off in the morning, like he did before 1st period. But he noticed the familiar envelope icon on the screen.

Hey Webhead...Can you throw a map up here or something?

Peter slid his phone under the back cover of his English text book. He could feel the teacher's gaze on him, so he casually wrote something on his notebook, just to throw Mr. Griffin off. [2]

He thought about it. Should he go in the lobby and pick up a map? Maybe a bag of Goldfish from the vending machines too. Maybe even a Dr. Pepper. During lunch, he could just toss it up to Clint, wherever the hell he was, just so he wouldn't starve.

Lunch was after third period, so that left him with approximately 45 minutes.

45 minutes wasn't much. Clint could wait. Classes came first, for the moment. Not to mention the English teacher can be really scary sometimes. Besides, it was only 45 minutes. Clint had to have some patience somehow. According to SHIELD, he was a former sniper, so he had to be used to waiting for a target. Sometimes, even on rooftops or snow covered trees in the woods of Switzerland...

...Not that Peter hacked into Tony's files one night and decided take a look. No, he just wouldn't do that. Invasion of privacy was not in his zone. He wasn't raised that way. Definitely not...

Okay, he looked. It was hard though. Tony wasn't kidding when he said he made everything in the tower unhackable. It took him about three long hours and a lot of coding to at least get a small briefing of the Avengers' backgrounds.

And guess who was the first one in the confidential files of SHIELD? The Hawk himself.

Even though he got a glimpse of the former paid assassin's background, he knew not to mess with him.

And that even SHIELD doesn't know what happened in Budapest.

"Mr. Parker, how is Hamlet?" asked the English teacher.

"It's good, Mr. Griffin."

Clint could handle the wait. After all, it was only 45 minutes.

* * *

Meanwhile...

* * *

Clint was so not handling the wait.

"C'mon Webhead, I don't have all day..." mumbled Clint.

He was in a rather uncomfortable position. Who knew the vents could be so cramped in schools?

"Damn high school vents..." he mumbled.

He has been in many air vent systems before. Some missions required to get inside the building and as cliche as it sounds, air vents were the way for Clint.

But in his entire career as Hawkeye, never has he been in air vents this tight.

_Fuck...Next time, Tony is so watching over Webhead._

Maybe if he went to the vent to the right, he could at least drop by a vending machine...

Oh wait, he can't.

Because he's stuck.

In the middle of nowhere! [3]

Okay, not exactly nowhere, but in the middle of an air vent system, which in a way is the middle of nowhere.

With much effort in a cramped vent, he turned around to face the right vent.

Now to find out where he was...

It was cold. Very cold. Not only was he regretting his decision, but he was also regretting not bringing a jacket. Who knew public schools could be this cold?

He crawled and looked down at the vent.

Books.

Well, at least he knew where he was...

And he was still hungry.

* * *

Finally, Lunch came around.

Peter had to tell Gwen. He sat with her in lunch and he needed back up.

Besides, maybe she had a plan on how to find Clint.

"Gwen, I have to tell you something."

"What do you want to tell me?" asked Gwen after they had the door shut.

"Uh, Hawkeye is in the air vents."

"Wait, what?!"

"Shhhh!" Peter silenced her, making sure no one was watching. "Yes, I'm being honest. And he's lost!"

Gwen nodded, still trying to believe what she just heard. "Hawkeye. Hawkeye, the same guy who helped save the world from an alien army is lost in a school air duct system," she said, almost to herself. Then she laughed, half shocked, half amused. "Peter, I don't know what to do with you anymore," she said with complete sincerity.

"I don't even know what's going on in my life anymore," Peter shrugged.

"I don't know where he is."

"We have about twenty minutes left of lunch. How exactly can we track down someone in an air vent?" asked Gwen.

"I can try texting him, even though the reception here is crap."

They began walking down the conjoined bridge hall that united the science wing and english wing.

Walking down that hall still gave him the jitters. Sure, it has been two years ago, but the Lizard's attack was still fresh on his mind. It took awhile for the hall to be rebuilt, along with most of the English hall...and Queens. And Manhattan. And the sewage system.

It all felt very recent, him becoming Spider-Man. Sometimes it felt like it happened yesterday, instead of two years ago.

"Hey," Gwen poked Peter's arm. "You okay?"

Peter returned to reality. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"Yeah..."

"Are you still thinking about what happened two years ago?" asked Gwen.

Peter busied himself by texting Clint. "...A little bit..."

"Hey, the Lizard's gone. Nothing to worry about," Gwen reassured Peter. She leaned her head onto his arm. "You'll be fine...And if anything does happen, there is an Avenger in the air vents...somewhere."

Peter smiled a little bit. "True...Thanks Gwen."

"No problem, Peter."

He squeezed her hand and hit send.

"Now...where can Clint be?"

A small vibration came from Peter's pocket.

About fucking TIME you replied Webhead.

Webhead. Another one of Clint's nicknames.

Like Tony, Clint had a knack for giving people nicknames. Tony's nickname was Buckethead. Steve's nickname was Stripes, but he didn't say it to the Captain's face, unlike Tony. Natasha's was Tasha or Nat. Bruce's was Bill Nye. Why? No one knew. He hasn't given Thor a nickname yet, to Peter's knowledge.

Giving up on the text, Peter went ahead and dialed Clint.

"Where are you?"

"Okay...It's cold and there's a lot of computers here...Wait...I'm in the library."

Library. That wasn't far from where they were.

"Okay, here's the plan; we can get you out, but we need to turn off the security cameras."

"They have blind spots. I can sneak by."

"So...The library?"

"Yes, Webhead. The library."

"On my way."

* * *

**Oh yeah, reference index!**

**1=Mean Girls**

**2=To Kill Mr. Griffin, great read**

**3=Doctor Who**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not my best, but I tried. This was a bit deep in context. A whole lot different from the original draft I had. It was much more aloof and cracky. This one though was more thoughts and stuff. And yes, I left it as a cliffhanger because I can. Thanks for waiting/reading! Feedback is loved!


	9. Small Talk and Neon Paint

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Swear on the brush."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I'M BACK. More importantly: Takes place right where chapter 8 left off. Disclaimer is obviously the same. Enjoy!

Thus, Gwen and Peter finally entered the library.

To their luck, the library was empty. A folded paper stood in the main circulation desk with the words "Out for Lunch. Will return at 1" written with a pink highlighter.

There was nobody at the tables or in the aisles of tall bookshelves.

No hint whatsoever of getting caught.

Wow, this day was running smoothly, Peter thought to himself.

Aside from Clint Barton getting stuck in the air vents.

"Okay, now where are you Barton?" Peter asked out loud.

"Where exactly did he say he was?" asked Gwen.

"Next to the computers."

"Hey guys?" a distant voice called.

It was Clint Barton. Indeed it was.

"Found him," Gwen pointed.

This was _definite_ blackmail material.

Peter could almost not hold in his laughter. Because honestly, the entire thing was  _ridiculous._ Hawkeye, member of the Avengers, master assassin, top SHIELD agent. Stuck in a public school air vent system.

"Enjoying the view?" Peter called out.

"Screw you Parker. Help me get down."

"How?"

"Get me a chair."

Gwen grabbed a chair from the computer desk and put it underneath the vent.

"Chair's ready."

"Stand back, kids."

Gwen and Peter took a few steps back by a bookshelf.

The metal vent flew off as Clint kicked it, clattering slightly on the carpeted floor. He dropped off onto the chair, stretching. Assuming by how comfortable he was when he did that, Peter assumed that this wasn't the first time Clint had to escape via ducts.

"Thank god I'm out of that hellhole," he said, satisfied.

"You're on solid ground!" Peter exclaimed sarcastically.

"Whatever."

"Gwen, this is Clint. Clint, this is Gwen, my girlfriend."

"Pleasure to finally meet you."

"Likewise."

"Now, how do we get you out of here?"

"I got the rest, Parker. Call me when the day is over. Heading to my car."

* * *

Later…

* * *

"I did not sign up for this."

"Technically, you did."

"Oh did I? Did I really? So tell me why I'm painting a fucking  _record_  on cardboard?"

They were at the far end of the hallway, sitting on the ground with cut outs of cardboard circles and small pails filled with acrylic paint next to them. Brushes were piled on a piece of brown paper towel in the middle of the group.

"Well, it started at dinner last night…."

"I was being sarcastic. Of course I know I signed up for spider-sitting duty. But seriously, I didn't sign up for  _this_ ," he gestured to his paint brush. "Painting, I mean."

"Oh come on Clint. The AC wasn't _that_  bad. You hang out there all the time, don't you?" Peter asked.

"Yeah, but Stark's AC unit is  _much_  more roomier than your public school's AC unit," Clint replied, his distaste for Peter's school AC evident. "Never again."

"Well, it's all over isn't it?" Peter asked. "Let's look to the bright side, you're on solid ground now," he smirked at the final part.

He was never gonna let Clint live this down.

Ever.

Gwen smothered a chuckle.

"Solid ground? That's the best you could come up with? Illuminate me, Parker. Please," Clint scoffed sarcastically as he dipped his brush into the pail.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night," Peter shrugged. But really, he was definitely using this as blackmail.

"Is this how you guys bicker all the time?" Gwen asked.

"Eh," Peter shrugged. "More or less," he added. "It all really depends what mood we're both in."

"At least Stark didn't wake you up with the speakers this morning," Clint grimaced.

Gwen raised an eyebrow. "Come again?"

Peter snickered. "Again?" he asked.

"Again is an understatement. It's easier to say when he  _doesn't_ wake me up with that, I should add. But I've already told him that I own an alarm clock that's well damn capable of waking me up. But nooooo, he won't listen," Clint rolled his eyes.

"Speaking of the Stark, I wonder how he'll react to the news that you were stuck in the school's AC system…." Peter's voice wandered off.

"Oh  _no. No._ If you know what's best for you, you better not tell Stark anything," Clint pointed a half wet paintbrush at Peter. "Swear on the brush, Parker."

"Payback for the kitchen incident," Peter smirked.

"Swear on the brush."

"No."

"Swear on the damn brush, Parker."

"I won't swear on the brush."

"Swear on the brush or I'll hack into your computer and get some of your internet history."

"I got nothing to hide, Barton. I'm an open book."

"The kitchen incident?" Gwen asked.

"Long story," Clint replied. "Your boyfriend got scared when he went to the kitchen one night."

"No. Not true. It was 3 in the morning and this guy," Peter pointed his brush at Clint, "Was sitting on top of the refrigerator and thought it was funny to scare me."

"You should've been there," Clint chuckled. "He jumped onto the wall like a cat. It was hilarious!"

"He always does that," Gwen remarked, earning a slight nudge from Peter.

"Then Steve and Tony got onto the speakers and told us to go to sleep," Peter added.

"Starkass always ruins the fun," Clint said.

"It was a school night," Peter reminded him. "You get cranky in the mornings."

"A little bit. You should see Stark in the mornings. When he has no coffee, he is evil," Clint dipped his brush into the paper cup filled with bright orange paint. "Evil meaning he hogs all the bagels."

"But c'mon, painting isn't that bad. It's actually nice. Even stress relieving," Peter said, holding up his cardboard disc.

"Okay, true….But this better not be used as blackmail y'hear?" Clint asked, the paint brush with neon orange paint not helping his intimidating tone.

"Scout's honor," Peter smiled, but crossed his fingers behind his back.

"Right…."

There was a moment of silence between the three as they continued painting.

"I feel like I'm back in the 1st grade," Clint chuckled. "I used to always throw paint at my friends. It was hilarious."

"1st grade feels like forever," Gwen replied.

Peter nodded. "It does."

1st grade was what, eleven years ago now? It was a long time ago.

"Even more for me. I'm old. Both of you guys are seniors right?" Clint asked.

"Yeah," Gwen nodded.

"You kids got your class rings ready?" Clint asked.

"Yeah, they're gonna be delivered sometime next week."

"Nice. Homecoming was a blast."

The small talk continued as they discussed the upcoming school events, all while painting some cardboard records with the neon paint.

"You had homecoming?" Peter asked, surprised.

"Oh yeah. Don't sound so shocked Parker, I'm not that old. Except that I wasn't decorating halls or anything like you guys, just going to the dance."

"Nice," Peter commented.

"It was alright. A bit shabby, but it was alright," Clint smiled a little bit. Homecoming dance at a small gym. Local, but it wasn't bad. "But this is definitely new to me," he gestured to the pile of cardboard circles.

"That's more than we had to do last year. All we had to was hang up streamers," Gwen said.

"Not with me, we had to paint the posters," Peter added.

"That must have been fun."

"Tell me about it. I was with the step team."

Gwen laughed. "Yeah, definitely a week to remember."

Peter didn't give much thought about the Avengers' life before, well the Avengers. Well, more like before the Battle of Manhattan. He just knew some of the basics.

There was Tony Stark, who everyone in the world knew of. Iron Man, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist. Famous for his parties, famous for his technological innovations. He had many scandals

The Hulk, a green rage monster. Theories went around that it was a government experiment gone wrong. But in reality, it was Bruce Banner, scientific genius, quiet guy,.

Thor, Norse God of thunder. He still honestly didn't know anything about him. Other than Tony associating him with Shakespeare and many curtain jokes, he was powerful. And no one could wield his mighty hammer aside from the Norse God himself.

Captain America, war hero and inspiration for the country. A symbol of freedom, justice, hope.

Black Widow, deadly Russian master assassin turned agent. Peter knew he didn't want to mess with her. At all.

Then there was Hawkeye. Master archer, former master assassin also, top SHIELD agent. A man with a past, deadly and secret.

And then there's just Clint Barton….a normal witty guy who's life got turned upside down and likes sneaking around in air ducts, giving people nicknames and doing odd things.

Peter continued painting onto the cardboard disc.

Well, to his knowledge, of course.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: How's that? Rusty as fuck, but it's just some filler stuff, still trying to get back in the Avengers fanfic game y'know? I know, it's a bit rushed, but yeah. Oh and yeah, I know Clint joined the circus as a teen, but my headcanon was that he had a "homecoming" dance like before everything went down and bad shit happened. This was rusty and filler, but y'all, it's better late than never. Thanks for reading! Reviews would be really great.


	10. Bonding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for the delay. Again, I'm updating from my phone. The struggle is real. But really, I got no issue with it, going to lengths to update. I mean, I enjoy fanfic and I love you guys too so there's that. And I really miss writing Avengers fanfic. I really do. We all know I have major fanfic commitment issues, which is really the story behind why I've gone on a one shot binge lately rather than actually hauling ass and getting stuff for multi chapter words done. Really.
> 
> But y'all, Captain America: The Winter Soldier was a spiritual journey and I found it very moving and it changed my life. I also now have a Deadpool poster in my bedroom. It brings me great joy. Iron Man was on Spike the other day and that's what said "Update your fanfic."
> 
> So then, I said "I will." And I got writing. My original draft had a lot written, but fate decided that it wasn't good so it got deleted. I was upset, but then decided to rewrite it and this one turned out way better than the last. Who would have known?
> 
> A bit filler, but this is where it starts to move forward. And yay for bonding.
> 
> Disclaimer is still the same. Enjoy!

For the rest of the week, Clint did a better job of sneaking into the school after hours.

 

And time did fly by when they were having fun. Gwen didn't show for a few days after school. She had to work at Oscorp.

 

But it wasn't too bad, not having Gwen there. Peter got to know Clint a little bit more.

 

Out of all the Avengers, he deemed himself closest to Clint. It was almost a month now, since he started living there. Clint had that natural playful, older brother aura. With Clint, Peter didn't mind being teased, mostly because he got to tease him back. It was really hard to be in a bad mood when you were around him. The guy had a strange sense of humor, bouncing between sarcasm and dumb jokes.

 

Residing with the Avengers was almost like being in a different class. It was so new to him. And since he had to go to the tower each day, he always searched out for that familiar face. Even if the familiar face was pretty recent in his life.

 

Clint talked about some of his experiences as a SHIELD agent, some of the tricks of trade he picked up over the years. He demonstrated what the proper way of holding a bow was, using a piece of cardboard and a brush.

 

After Battle of Manhattan, Tony and Clint became good friends. But they would always get on each other's nerves, like all friends would. It really reminded Peter of the way siblings would bother each other, seeing which one was going to snap first.

 

But it wasn't too bad. Tony was a good person, underneath the snarky exterior. Peter could see that. Tony didn't outright state it, but his actions were enough.

 

After Stark Tower got wrecked from the Battle of Manhattan, Tony took the liberty to rebuild his home, new and improved. He made each residing floor different for each Avenger.

 

During the rebuilding of Stark Tower, Tony had Clint come over in his spare time to help assist him in making his floor. But they both had different tastes; Tony was more about technology, Clint was more on good old fashioned combat. Tony had his suits, Clint had his bow.

 

Tony wanted to make it mostly technological. Clint just wanted more room to practice in. They argued about it for a little bit, but they finally reached a common ground on the training range. It would have a wall with all of Clint's different arrows, restocked and when empty, Jarvis would have the machines in Clint room makes some more. The targets were controlled by Clint, having them able to move and be at different places. Best part was that they were automatic rebuildable targets. So whenever Clint said he was finished, the targets would rebuild themselves.

 

It was perfect for both of them. Clint wouldn't have to go through the hassle of cleaning up the mess left by the robots. Tony thoroughly enjoyed designing the targets, saying that Clint finally had some common sense.

 

It was also something they could both do together. Designing and making targets for Clint's range. Tony also helped in making more arrows for Clint to use. It was another thing they both enjoyed to do.

 

Peter saw that as a sign of true friendship. Or in Clint's words, "Tony loves me too much to actually kick me out so he just settled on making moving targets."

 

The residing floors all needed exclusive access. But since Peter was living in it, Jarvis could just make the elevator take him directly to the Main Floor.

 

The Main Floor was basically the residing floor in the middle of the Avengers. It was easily accessible, everyone being able to meet up to it. A lot of things were in the Main Floor. The middle was the residing part; kitchen, living room, dining room, bedrooms, guest rooms [mostly empty]. Another part was Tony and Pepper's area. On the left, it was what Peter called the business part. The conference room was there, the library, among a lot of other things Peter still hasn't been able to explore yet.

 

Yeah, the Main Floor was really huge.

 

Two floors underneath the main floor was Bruce's floor. On top of that was Steve's floor. The Main Floor was basically also Tony's floor. On top of that floor, it was Natasha's. Clint's floor was on top of her's nearing the top floors. The two remaining top floors were split. One floor is what Peter called the Labs. It was basically where Bruce and Tony did science, to put it simply. Some of it was Research and Development, other was storage, some were other things that both Avengers used.

 

And the very top floor/rooftop access belonged to Thor himself. Peter figured it was because of him having to return from Asgard to Earth so frequently. He still hasn't met the God, who knows when he will get to meet him?

 

Peter got to learn more about Clint and the Avengers in those three days. It was fun. Decorating the hall didn't even feel like a chore anymore.

 

But after Wednesday, things began to change out of the routine Peter had established.

 

After they got to the tower, Clint received a phone call saying that he had to leave for a two day mission starting on Thursday morning.

 

"Dude, I have to miss you going to homecoming."

 

Peter shook his head. "It's fine. I mean, it's just homecoming."

 

"It's your last homecoming, though," Clint added, dejectedly. "I'll make it up to you."

 

"You don't have to…" Peter said.

 

"No, don't get all 'Oh man, you don't have to, it's okay.' on me. I want to. You're a good kid, and not a bad fighter," Clint was leaning on the wall. "One day, we'll practice in my training range. Sound good?"

 

Good?

 

It sounded awesome.

 

"Yeah, it sounds good."

 

The elevator stopped at the Main Floor. Clint gave Peter a two fingered salute and said goodnight. Peter wished him luck on his mission. The elevator shut and continued it's ascent to Clint's floor.

 

The Main Floor was empty. Peter went to the kitchen and grabbed a granola bar, not hungry enough to reheat leftovers. He was too tired anyways.

 

Peter mentally thanked Jarvis again for turning off the lights of the living room and kitchen as he was leaving to his bedroom.

 

Yeah. He could get used to this.

 

It was on Thursday when Clint had to leave for a two day mission. It was also on Thursday, the day before Homecoming, when Peter realized he didn't have anything ready whatsoever.

 

When it came to getting things done, Gwen was the queen of it. She was efficient, setting her mind to one goal and doing everything that it was necessary to accomplish it.

 

So Peter really wasn't surprised when she told him that she found her homecoming dress the week earlier.

 

They were in the coffee shop a few blocks from school. They usually hung out it in the afternoons. Peter liked that coffee shop. It had really good WiFi, good coffee and good food. Something that was rare to find in Queens sometimes.

 

The weather was turning chilly so Peter couldn't exactly go for a walk in Central Park. He did that often, just walking around in the park alone, enjoying the greenness of it. He could still do it if he was up for it, but now wasn't the time.

 

"So, is your suit ready?" Gwen asked, interested.

 

"My suit?"

 

Previously in the past, whenever someone said suit, he thought of his Spider-Man suit. At the moment, it was hung up in the back of his closet, probably collecting dust.

 

"I mean, I could always ask if they have a spare tie."

 

When Peter said "they", he meant the Avengers, but he mostly meant Clint. He was still in fresh waters so to say, still getting to know the rest of his housemates. So far, the friend he's made from them was Clint.

 

"You can always go shopping with me."

 

"You need to work today. I don't want to take up your time."

 

Gwen sighed. "Peter…."

 

"You have Oscorp. I know, you love it."

 

"Speaking of Oscorp, now that you're with Stark, I guess I'm fraternizing with the enemy," Gwen drank a little bit from her coffee.

 

"I happen to reside in the building, not work with them. But if it means anything, I'd break the rules for you."

 

Gwen rolled her eyes. "You've been breaking the rules since two years ago, Peter."

 

"There was never a rule against fighting crime," Peter commented. "So I'm not breaking the rules."

 

Gwen grinned. "So, who are you gonna ask?"

 

"For the tie?"

 

"Obviously."

 

"Um…" Peter thought about it. "I'm not sure. I still need to actually get the suit ready…"

 

"Do you even own a suit?"

 

"I don't think so…."

 

Gwen groaned. "Peter…"

 

"Well, I haven't really had time to get ready. But don't worry, I got this. I really do."

 

"Promise?"

 

Peter reached over the table and squeezed Gwen's hand. "Promise."

 

"I got nothing."

 

Peter emptied his closet. And after searching through all the clothes he had in his closet, he had nothing.

 

He sighed, lying down on top of his dress shirts and jackets. He was so tired and not in the mood for any of this last minute stuff.

 

From the bed, he glanced over to his closet, seeing his Spider-Man suit hung in the back, untouched. The mask was on a separate hook. The web blasters were in a small drawer that was near the back of the closet.

 

It felt like ages since he had to pause being Spider-Man.

 

He missed it. He missed feeling the thrill of swinging from building to building, feeling like he was flying as he swung onto the rooftops. He missed the thrill, the excitement he felt if being Spider-Man.

 

He couldn't be Spider-Man, not while SHIELD was on his ass.

 

Peter didn't know what to do. He looked through all of his clothes and the one hope spot he had was of the suit that used to belong to his dad.

 

The suit was too big. And by big, it was that he needed a new suit because no seamstress could have that suit made into his size quickly. And by quickly, he meant before Saturday.

 

Peter then decided to ask Jarvis for some advice.

 

"Jarv, can I ask you something?"

 

"Yes, Mr. Parker."

 

Peter gave up a long time ago on having the AI drop the "Mr." when addressing him. But apparently, it was in his coding. That's how Jarvis addressed everyone, politely and respectful.

 

"Um, do you think that it wouldn't be too much of a bother to ask Tony if I can get a suit?"

 

"I doubt it will be."

 

"Are you sure?"

 

"I can put Mr. Stark on the line if you would prefer that."

 

"That'd be great."

 

Peter was tired. He didn't want to exactly go around the tower this late at night to search for Tony. So yeah, he was pretty glad about Jarvis being around.

 

Speaking of Tony, he greeted Peter with a casual "Sup nerd."

 

"Um, Tony? I need your help," Peter said, his tone unsure.

 

"On what? School? Girls? Messing around with Hawkass?"

 

Peter smiled a little bit and shook his head, knowing Tony couldn't see it. "No, homecoming."

 

"Are you asking me to Homecoming, Peter?" Tony did a fake gasp. "I'm flattered."

 

Peter laughed a little bit, still shaking his head. "No, it's not that. I mean I need help on Homecoming. My suit. It's…..um…..too big."

 

"Ah, age backwards?"

 

"No, it was a hand-me-down from my….my dad. And it's too big. Doesn't fit me."

 

"Oh…" Tony paused. "Well, we can get that taken care of. New suit for you. Jarvis, get Peter's measurements. You need that suit before…" Tony prompted Peter to continue.

 

"Saturday."

 

"Jarvis, you know what to do."

 

"Right away, sir," Jarvis said.

 

"Do you need ties?"

 

Still laying down on his bed, Peter rolled over onto his stomach, rummaging through his clothes, finally finding the pile of belts and the one navy blue tie he owned. "I only have one. It's navy."

 

"Navy clashes. I'll have Jarvis add a black tie to the suit."

 

Well, now that he got that taken care of.

 

"Thanks Tony."

 

"Kid, it's no problem. Really. Consider it a gift. Get some sleep."

 

"I will."

 

"Night Webhead."

 

"Night Tony."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Tony and Clint are such bros, y'all have no idea. They're my dream tag team. Well, that was enjoyable to write. It really was. I love making characters bond, making them just hang out and be happy. I just want characters to be happy. And I'm really looking forward to writing Clint and Peter training. And I'm going to throw in Natasha and Peter training too, just for the hell of it. Spider vs. Spider. I have some chapters for this fanfic already being written and yo…..It gets real. It goes down.
> 
> But yay for over 2k+ chapters. Woo! I'm back in the game baby!
> 
> Thanks for reading; reviews would be great!


	11. Homecoming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dammit, he was here to have fun. And nothing, not even an existential crisis over all the crazy shit he has gone through during high school, was going to stop him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Hello gang, I missed you all. I decided to finally update this.
> 
> Be aware of the following disclaimer: I have never gone to a Homecoming Dance. Ever. I've been to the game, but never the dance. So forgive the inaccuracies, please.
> 
> And to one of the reviewers: Yes, this is where Harry comes in! A cameo appearance, of sorts. But yay, he gets introduced. I haven't seen Amazing Spider Man 2 yet, but I went on Wikipedia so I have an idea of sorts. But I'm mainly basing it off my current knowledge of Harry, fanfic and some of my headcanons. Also, everybody is happy in this one and Harry has been at Midtown for about a year.
> 
> Oh yeah, if you guys haven't caught on, all of this is an AU. AU in which everybody is happy and not wanting to kill anybody. Harry doesn't become the Green Goblin or tries to kill Peter. It also doesn't follow Iron Man 3. But I will include elements from Phase 2 films. Some of my keys are dead, so please forgive me about some grammar mistakes.
> 
> Disclaimer is the same, enjoy!

Friday night passed. The dance wasn't held at the gym like it had been for a few years before. The Student Council made a wise choice and icked a nice ballroom on the nicer region of the city.

And of course, the suit was a perfect fit.

"Wow, thanks Tony," Peter said, genuinely thankful. The suit was amazing. Comfortable, stylish, sharp. Something Peter could see himself wearing in the future again. And he already knew that he was not going to shove it back in his closet.

Tony waved him away, "No problem, kid. Go have fun."

It was six in the evening, an hour before the dance started. Before that, Gwen suggested to go visit Aunt May, something that Peter was really happy about. He hadn't seen her in weeks.

Peter nodded and thanked him again, going down the elevator and into the lobby, where Gwen was waiting.

"Well, Tony Stark does have good taste," Gwen said approvingly.

Her dress was long, mermaid style. It was bright blue, the shawl decorated with small diamonds. As expected, she wore heels and she pulled out two tickets from her purse.

"You look beautiful."

"I know," Gwen grinned and pulling him closer by the tie, she kissed Peter. "So do you."

Peter smiled and said "You flatter me too much."

"Which is why I'm driving, but you already knew that."

Gwen always liked to rub the fact that she knew how to drive and Peter didn't into his face.

"Hang on," Peter said before look up into the ceiling. "Jarv, can you tell Tony that I'll be home a little bit late?" he asked.

"Of course, Mr. Parker," Jarvis replied back.

Noting Gwen's confused expression, Peter pointed "That," Peter said, pointing up, "was Jarvis. He's cool."

Gwen nodded and said, "Oscorp is still better."

_Ouch._

"I'm offended," Peter said with a small grin. "She didn't mean it, Jarv."

"I thought so."

"Let's go," Gwen smiled and took his arm, following him out the door.

* * *

"Peter!"

"Hey Aunt May," Peter said with a small smile.

Being back in Queens was almost like coming back after a long day of work. He knew the area, he knew the block. He knew how the door always squeaked a little bit went it was being used. He knew how the neighbors had a dog that always barked at the mailman in the mornings. He also knew how the lady across the street made killer coconut cream pies and how she would always save a few for Peter during the holidays.

It felt refreshing.

Aunt May greeted Gwen with equal enthusiasm, leading them both inside into the living room.

The dining room was still the same; the living room they were sitting in as well. Everything remained like he hadn't left, or more like he hadn't been sent to live with the Avengers.

Now that Peter thought about it, being back in Queens was like being in a completely different world.

In Stark Tower, he was with heroes, a billionaire, master assassins, secret agents. He was with scientific geniuses and housemates with Captain America himself.

And now, in Queens, he was simply Peter Parker, a high school senior ready to go with his girlfriend to their last Homecoming dance.

He was familiar. He was comfortable.

He was home.

"Where did you get that suit?" Aunt May asked.

"Tony. Dad's suit didn't fit me so…..I kinda asked Tony and he said yeah. It wasn't an issue or anything, he could easily buy all of the suit stores in Manhattan."

"How are they treating you?" Aunt May asked. "They better be treating you well."

Even though she didn't explicitly state it, Eter had the feeling that she would single handedly verbally slam both SHIELD and the Avengers down. If there was one thing about Aunt May that everyone knew, it was that she was fearless and fiercely protective.

"They're treating me great, I assure you. They're cool."

"No Hulking out?" she asked.

To that, Peter let out a small laugh. "No, none. He's fine."

But honestly, Bruce was mostly in the lab or in his floor. Hulk related, Peter had seen the footage.

-Not hacked from the SHIELD database or anything like that. -

Well, he tried to go to hack it before he gave up and went onto Bing and looked up the Hulk. And his results were many: articles, documentaries, news reports, videos. Even some conspiracy theories. He ended up spending Wednesday evening looking at footage from the battle of Manhattan and a few phone recorded videos of the Hulk wreaking havoc in Harlem.

But what he was starting to notice was that some of the things online were just bullshit. Bruce was the type of person that mostly stayed in his lab, or in his floor. He was always with Tony, doing something science related. Or he went out for walks, staying away from a stressful environment. It worked out for him.

One of the good things that came about living in the tower was that Clint was showing Peter the ropes around of who was who and who did what. From what he told Peter about Bruce and the Hulk, he called it The Other Guy. He was scary up close, but from what Clint told him, Bruce had it under control now. He could Hulk out but go back to normal. It took a little bit of time, but it worked.

When Peter asked why Clint was helping him with all of this, all the archer said was that he knew what it was like having your life completely changed and suddenly thrown in a situation where you didn't know shit. Peter did not press on the subject afterwards.

Peter didn't want to see him in action, though. It's one thing to see something on a screen and a whole different thing to see it up close in real life.

Like the Avengers.

Like Stark Tower.

Like living with the Avengers in Stark Tower.

If it weren't for Jarvis or Clint, God knows just how many times Peter had gotten lost already in the tower.

Aunt May fussed over Gwen's dress, as expected. She loved Gwen. Always reminded her that she was welcome here, to make herself at home.

Peter leaned back on the couch, remembering all the times when he would sneak back home from a successful night out as Spider-Man. At the time, he didn't have anything else to do except to get out of his costume into his pajamas, lie down and watch those late 1990s sitcoms that always came on at night.

Wow, he missed living here.

_….No, no, no, you are not out here to be homesick. You are here to have fun._

As he continued talking with Aunt May, his phone went off with a few chimes every two minutes, signaling that they were text messages from Harry.

Peter ignored them for a few moments before the chimes started to get annoying. He gave up, groaned, unlocked his phone and saw the messages of "Where are you?!" Peter, come onnnnn" and the most recent one in all caps saying "GOD HELP ME IF YOU TRY TO BE FASHIONABLY LATE."

Sometimes, Peter did wonder how he was friends with Harry.

"I swear to god, Harry," Peter mumbled, texting back a quick reply that he would be there with Gwen in ten minutes.

There was another one from Tony saying to be at the Tower before midnight or else Fury will get on both of their asses. Peter texted back with a quick "Okay."

"Visit me, okay? Peter, I miss you."

Gwen and Peter bid their farewells to Aunt May and headed over to the ballroom.

"You looked kind of zoned out," Gwen said, referring to the visit.

"Nah, it's nothing," Peter said, waving it away.

"You sure?" Gwen asked.

"Yeah."

* * *

Entering the ballroom, he saw it half crowded, since the night was barely getting started.

Near the center tables, Peter saw his best friend greeted him with a loud "Hey Peter!"

Peter saw Harry Osborn waving at him from a table. He looked happier than he normally did. Peter assumed that this was Harry's zone. Parties, dancing, a distraction of normal life. They were Harry's scene. A few other students were with him, some that Peter knew by face from working in the yearbook, but didn't remember their names. He assumed they were Harry's friends. He never really had an issue with them, but that was mostly due to the face he had never met them. But from what he had seen, they were alright, didn't get in each other's way. Like everyone else did in Midtown.

Senior year was their final year and like many, they didn't plan on holding anymore old grudges.

Well, at least that was what Peter thought. But then again, he didn't exactly have a normal high school experience.

Peter and Gwen made their way to the tables to Harry, who let out a loud wolf whistle directed at Peter. "Damn, Peter. Where did you get the suit?" Harry asked, impressed.

_Tony Stark bought it for me._

"It was a gift," Peter said sheepishly, knowing that it was technically the truth. "A friend of mine heard that it was Homecoming and…..well, he didn't want me to go without a suit."

"Your friend has good taste," Harry said. He turned to Gwen, "And Gwen, you look lovely this evening."

"Thank you," Gwen said with a smile.

They took their seats and introductions were made from Harry's friends to Peter. The food was being served. Small talk was made, mostly of the game that was a near close tie but the victory ended uo going to Midtown. Eventually, Harry could tell the awkwardness and he took over, talking energetically of how the ballroom was used in a lot of social events and how it was one of the best Homecomings he's gone to.

"Best and last," he wiped a mock tear and leaned onto Peters shoulder. "Hold me, Peter."

Peter let out a small nervous laugh, mostly because this was the most loose he has seen Harry in a long time and it was so weird.

"Yeah, yeah," he patted Harry's head and looked over to Gwen, mouthing the words "Help me" to her.

Gwen let out a sigh and asked, "Hey Harry, want to dance?"

Peter gawked because he did NOT see that one coming. He expected her to ask about something science related because that always distracted Harry.

Harry stood up and said "Of course, Gwen." He turned over to Peter and asked "You don't mind, right?"

"No, not at all," Peter said. "Go ahead."

And that was just the first twist of the evening.

As Peter watched his date dance with his best friend, the famed announcer Luke Cage greeted Peter with a loud "Sup Parker!"

And since Peter was a nice person and he didn't really know Luke, he replied with an almost enthusiastic "Hey there, Luke."

"Where's Gwen?" Luke asked.

Peter gestured to Harry giving Gwen a spin on the dance floor.

"Damn, Harry stole your girl," Luke said, bluntly.

"Kinda, yeah."

Luke clapped his shoulder and said, "Don't let it get you down, the night is still young! Maybe someone will ask you."

"Wouldn't that be kind of inappropriate since I brought a date" Peter asked.

"Harry stole your date, so, I don't think the rules kind of apply here. Besides, you can always ask me," Luke batted his eyelashes, grinning to see Peter crack a smile.

"Of course. I'll keep it in mind," Peter said, smiling.

Luke fake swooned, holding his hand against his chest while saying, "My hero!"

With that, he grabbed some food off Peters plate and walked away, singing the lyrics to the upbeat song playing enthusiastically.

_Right. You're here to have a good time._

But somehow, it didn't feel like it.

Peter swirled the ice around in his fruit punch cup.

No, he was not going to have an existential crisis about his life. Not now. Not on the last, technically also first, homecoming dance of his high school career...He didn't want the night to end up with a lot of feeling. Not homesickness, not sadness, not nostalgia of the way his life used to be a few months before now. Before SHIELD stepped in.

He could feel himself sinking deeper into his seat little by little until he heard Harry shout over the music to him, saying "Move it Peter! Come on, we're going dancing!"

"Join us!" Gwen waved him over.

And just like that, Peter decided to put that crisis on hold because two of the most important people in his life were inviting him to dance.

Because dammit, he was out here to have fun. And nothing, not even an existential crisis over all the crazy shit he has gone through during high school, was going to stop him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> N: And then it almost turned sad. I gave up near the ending. Dances will be the end of me, I swear. Love going to them, but I have no clue of who to dance with or what to do in them. I gotta thank Microsoft Word for helping me fix the typos. Life is hard when some of your keys are dead. I had to copy and paste them from a separate Notepad document. But don't think that little bump in the road is going to let me stop from writing. I'll wait for my keyboard replacement someday, but I'll still write! I have a bunch of fics ready to update but me not having internet didn't allow me to do that. I usually posted them from my phone, which is as painful as you can imagine it to , that explains what I've been doing the whole summer. Not doing the summer reading or anything. Yeah, I'm a responsible student.
> 
> The following chapters are gonna have some ACTION. Not all at once, but they will have action. And that training session is gonna happen.
> 
> Thanks for reading! Reviews are highly appreciated!


	12. A Captain and A Spider (Part One)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: I’M BACK BITCHESSSS. How y’all doing??? Jesus, wow, this did take a long while. So so so sorry. I’m not gonna pull another hiatus on y’all, I swear. And I miss writing Avengers. I really do. But I’m gonna make it up to y’all. More Avengers fanfic, hell fucking yeah. 
> 
> I obviously do not own Marvel. Enjoy!

Sundays were either a chill or pressure day for Peter. When he lived in Queens, he spent Saturday nights usually either hanging out with his friends, playing video games until the early hours of the morning. Which led to sleeping in on Sundays and basically laying around the house. Or, if he was feeling up for it, swinging in between some buildings in the city.

Those were the best days.

Or, they were the pressure Sundays. Pressure Sundays consisted of him staring at his textbook for a few hours and sighing deeply, longingly looking out his window and wishing to be swinging but having him only resort to doing his homework because his procrastination was going to come around and bite him in the ass.

Or, they were mostly of him having every assignment spread out on the floor and him sitting with his legs crisscrossed with a laptop balanced on his knee. And him   
Those were the worst days.

Luckily, Peter had worked hard to not be the struggling procrastinating student he once was. Senioritis was a tough thing to deal with. The Sunday after homecoming was a chill Sunday, and Peter couldn’t feel more glad about it. The previous night had left him tired, straggling into the tower at very late hours, his feet sore. Sure, it wasn’t prom, but wow. A fun dance. He really needed that night out.

So he slept in until 10 AM, and rolled out of his bed feeling well rested for the first time in days. For a second he considered changing into something casual, but it was Sunday. And he soon grew to learn that the Avengers didn’t care if he wore jeans or his own pajamas to the table.

Living with them was expected to see a side of them that normally wasn’t seen. Apparently, Black Widow enjoyed take out a lot and would jump at the opportunity when it was offered. She would offer to order it and go pick it up in her stealth mode outfit. And he soon grew to learn that Clint Barton, the feared and most skilled agent at SHIELD, spends his days off in his floor eating pizza and watching crappy movies.

Most of the time, the Avengers were all dressed in their casual inside clothing, and on the weekend mornings, pajamas. All of them. Bruce Banner was often fond of sweats and Natasha really liked yoga pants. Clint just wore a loose white shirt and faded flannel bottoms. Tony Stark didn’t give a fuck.

So that’s how Peter grew a bit more comfortable in the tower. They were all still, well, people. Human.

Okay, all human except for Thor, since he was an Asgardian god. But he still hadn’t gotten the chance to meet him yet. Tony mentioned him a lot, though. Mostly complaining about not being able to pick up the hammer.

So that’s how it grew to be. Peter would show up to the kitchen in his pajamas, barefoot and he would mentally thank Tony for having about twenty different brands of cereal in the massive pantry.

He was still adjusting to be living in the Tower. It was still a huge place and a difference from the house in Queens.

“Good morning Peter.”

Peter turned around to see Steve in his gym clothes, pouring coffee from the pot and into a bright red mug with the words "Senior Citizen of the Month" on it. He had a short tower around his neck, his outfit implying that he went out for a run.

"Oh hey Steve," he said, before adding, "Nice mug."

Steve looked at the mug and sighed, "Tony. But whatever, a mug is a mug," he shrugged and continued drinking from it.

Peter learned that Tony really liked getting mugs with dumb phrases on them, just for the sake to piss people off. They were all in the cabinet over the coffeemaker. He had seen them, all custom made in regards to each Avenger. Clint was "Birdbrain", Bruce was "Eagle 2." Oddly enough, Thor’s was "Tourist", but then after an extensive discussion with Clint about about how Thor is technically a tourist rather than a god, it kind of made sense.

"Natashalie" was Natasha’s mug, for reasons that Peter didn't exactly know. But from what Clint said, Natasha's cover was blown while working undercover as Tony's assistant, and Tony used that nickname to piss her off.

One side of Pete wondered when he was going to get his own mug, but then he remembered he wasn't an Avenger and settled for not being judged on going to the kitchen at unholy hours of night.

“Tony is a strange man."

“Tell me about it," Steve said before taking a long swig of his coffee. "How was the dance?” he asked, leaning against the

“It was great! Had a lot fun, didn’t step on Gwen too many times,” Peter said with a small grin.

The last part had been true. Peter had worked very hard to not step on Gwen’s feet, only to be twirled away by Harry and invited into another dance with him. Being used to his “give no fucks” attitude, Peter went with it and the attempt of dancing with Harry proved to be hilarious. And also a lot of tumbles because Harry can’t dance for shit when he’s laughing.

“That’s always important,” Steve grinned. “Told myself that all the time when I went dancing with the few girls. My best friend, Bucky, he said it was his obligation to teach me how to dance,” he paused before shaking his head fondly and adding, “He was the worst.”

Huh. This had been the first time that Peter and Steve talked directly. Despite the extensive readings he did on Wikipedia and on the internet about Captain America, (because come on, nearly everyone had done it at one point.), he didn’t know who exactly Steve Rogers was. All he saw was what was available for the Captain America, World War II veteran, war hero, Star Spangled Man with the Plan.

But now that Peter thought about it, he knew nothing about Steve Rogers, his housemate.

“What did he do wrong?” he asked, curious.

“He stepped on my feet all the time. I’m pretty sure he did it on purpose because he never stepped on a girl’s foot,” Steve said. “But then again, he was really good at bullshitting things, so that explains my dancing skills.”

“Harry’s like that. He’s been to dozens and dozens of upper class parties, met many celebrities, but last night, he had two left feet.”

“A bit of a bold question, but Peter, when was the last time you had proper training?”

“Umm…” Peter paused, thinking back, then asking, “Does gym count?”

Gym had been a huge advantage after he got the bite. He could dodge things more easily, avoid getting hit, enhanced speed, you name it. He had to tone it down for a bit because the coaches were really starting to get interested in the possibility of an athletic career for Peter, but he didn’t want to do that. He had too much on his life already. Aside from web slinging, (obviously), skating was his area, and occasionally shooting some hoops with Harry.

“No? In that case, never. I mean, I lived in Queens and all, so you know the little guys had to get into a fight at one point,” Peter said.

It was inevitable. In the past, Peter had been part of fights, but it was usually because he was defending himself, or someone else.

“That’s true,” Steve nodded.

“So yeah, I mostly taught myself how to fight by having to defend myself. There really isn’t any classes on web slinging, so it was mostly trial and error for me. But the spidey sense helped on me not falling and breaking all of my bones,” Peter replied.

The Spidey sense always came in handy. Too many times he nearly had to slip off a building, before his sense kicked in and he grabbed onto a ledge. Also saved him from getting spitballed or hit with a football in the most inopportune moments.

The first time it had happened with the football, Peter caught it and threw it back so hard that it dented the golden field goal post. He didn’t get in trouble, considering that it was a football player who threw it at him, but it did surprise a lot of people.

It was then when Peter knew he had to keep his enhanced abilities under control, but it was still hilarious to see Flash’s bewildered expression.

“Spidey sense?” Steve asked.

“Yeah,” Peter said, noting Steve’s confused tone. Did SHIELD not put that on the file? “Did you not read it on the file?”

“Can’t say I have,” Steve replied.

“It’s basically an ability I got with the bite that gets me to feel the danger before it happens. Like, say someone threw a ball at me and I wasn’t looking. My Spidey sense starts to tingle and I can turn around and throw the ball back or something,” Peter explained. “It comes in handy a lot. The whole ‘think fast!’ thing isn’t necessary when I have the Spidey sense.”

“So very rapid reflexes,” Steve said.

“Yeah. Or like a sixth sense so to say. It is a sixth sense actually.”

I’m actually pretty curious to see your moves at work,” Steve said. “Do you want to train with me?”

Training, with Captain America.

Hell yes.

“Yes!” Peter blurted out a little bit too fast. He cleared his throat a little bit then at a more casual tone added, “It would be my genuine pleasure.”

It was a dream come true. Not many people could say that they got the chance to train with Captain America himself. Training with the man with a plan.

“You can wear your suit if you want. I’m wearing mine after this,” he said.

“Yes, yes, just give me a few moments."

It was the fastest breakfast Peter ever had.

* * *

It took Peter a few minutes to get dressed into the suit after such a hurry. He practically sprinted to the elevator and went to the actual training area. It looked new, probably rebuilt after the battle in Manhattan.

The training area was massive. It felt like the interior of a very big, expensive gym. There were different ranges in the same training area. He saw a wall full of different arrows and targets, automatically knowing it's Hawkeye's.

Steve had his shield slung across his back, his helmet off. The suit he wore was different than the ones Peter had seen. Dark blue with a white star.

"How many suits do you have" Peter asked.

"Ah, a lot actually," Steve said.

"Oh my god, the shield," Peter said in awe.

It was large, gleaming in the light. The star in the middle shone brightly, the metal lacking any skid marks. It was much more beautiful in real life than on the internet.

"Its beautiful." Peter didn’t mean to sound as awestruck at he felt, but holy shit. Captain America’s shield.

Steve smiled a little bit. "Thank you. It’s a great piece of work."

"You want to hold it, don't you?"

"Please."

Steve handed Peter the shield and wow.

It was actually happening. Peter Parker was holding the shield. It was heavy in his arms, but he could handle it.

“Um, can I have it back now?”

“Oh, uh, yeah.”

Peter cleared his throat. “So, a thing about my webs,” he said. “They’re pretty strong and since we’re gonna be training, it might get stuck somewhere. Don’t worry, the web melts off in about two hours.”

"I’ve seen the footage. But just how strong are they?"

And because Peter was a showoff, he shot a web into one of the beams of the ceiling and pulled himself up, hanging upside down.

"Like this!" he exclaimed.

It felt so good using the webs after a long time. It was greeting an old friend and just being so happy.

"Rapid reflexes are useful, but they aren't going to be a full strength defense. It's good to know some basic hand to hand."

“You’ve relied more on street tactics.”

“Is that bad?” Peter asked.

“No,” Steve shook his head, before smiling a little bit. “So did I.”

“Yeah, I used to get in fights all the time. Never provoked them, I was usually the one they fought against,” Steve leaned against the wall. "And like you said, the little guys always ended up in a fight one way or another. But tactics aren’t going to always get you out of situations. It’s one thing to deal with a thug, and another to deal with an alien army.”

“I’m all ears, Captain.”

“We’re starting with hand to hand combat. Ready?”

“Alright Captain, teach me your ways.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cliffhanger because the training session is gonna be a long one and I wanted it to be split in two parts. I missed y’all! And I’m back! Muah muah, I love you all. Thank you for reading!


	13. No one was ready

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Y'all, I'm sorry for the long ass delay. This hiatus...well, it's been a difficult buncha months, I'll tell y'all that. Life grabbed me by the neck and had me dangling off the edge and everything sort of fell apart. I'm getting it together.
> 
> And holy fucking SHIT. I wrote this fic when i was a freshman and now I'm a Senior in high school. This...Holy fuck, that fact itself is pretty crazy in my thoughts. I promise, and I'm practically writing this I'm blood, I promise I'll have this fic finished before the school year ends. Yeah. Y'all got that right. Before I graduate. I'll be that person updating the night before graduation, probably. But yeah, disclaimer is still the same. Enjoy!

Peter was ready for this. He was excited. He was pumped. He was going to train alongside the man with a plan, the one that history books and the world knew and honored.

Captain America could punch him in the face right now and he would thank him.

"Alright, show me what you can do. Punch me"

"Uh, what?" Peter asked, confused.

Okay, he wasn't that serious when he said he would like to be punched by Captain America, but what.

"In a fight, you won't be able to hesitate," Steve said. "Getting distracted can cost you. So, punch me."

"But, you have actual fighting experience, you know, actually fighting aliens and mercs and threats," Peter said. "I just knockout thugs and tie them up with webs."

"You still mean something to the people," Steve said, "Anyways, no more excuses. Take a swing at me, let's see what you've got."

Oeter hesitated again.

"Fine, I will go first," Steve said and without warning, swung a fist to Peter.

Peter felt his sense snap into action and he jumped back, narrowly missing the swing.

"Good, your reflexes are in shape,"

"Oh Captain, my Captain," came Tony's voice from the intercom.

"What is it now?"

"Looks like that bastard Doom is at it again."

Doom. Peter swore that name was familiar. He's heard it before on the news, about some guy who tried taking over the world, but failed each time. Not everyone took him seriously.

"Ah shit," Steve cursed under his breath. "Fine, what is it this time?"

_Oh my god, the Captain cursed._

"Robots are set to unleash hell on Manhattan."

"How many?"

"A fuckload."

"I've got Peter with me," Steve said. "I can't just leave him here."

"Tell him to tag along, kid's got nothing else to do," Tony said.

"And Fury?" Steve asked.

"What about Fury? Suit up and assemble in five. Stark out,"

"Looks like that training session is going to wait. We have a job to do. Are you coming?"

"Of course." Was Peter's reply.

* * *

"No."

"Fury, think about it. Peter is under our roof and protection. It wouldn't be fair to the kid of we went out Avenging and he doesn't get to have some fun," Tony had said

"You do realize they're going to do it anyway, right?"

"I wasn't born yesterday, Hill. Let's just hope they don't blow up half of New York."

* * *

"You boys better be careful," Natasha warned. "Wouldn't want to be cleaning up your mess again." She charged her widow bites, tightening her straps around her wrist.

"Please, it's always the non-super powered guy who does all the cleaning," Clint said. "Hey Hawkeye, take out that platoon on the bridge. Hey Hawkeye, why don't you go scuba diving and unlock that hatch in that killer piranha lagoon? Hey Hawkeye, why don't you write doormat on your forehead so I can wipe my iron man armor feet on your puny human non flying slash acrobatic jumping ass?"

Natasha rolled her eyes.

"Someone's bitter about not having a suit," Tony remarked.

"Someone's bitter in general," Maria added.

"I'm fine without a suit, Stark. And no, Maria, I'm not bitter."

"Well, you're not exactly sweet," Bruce commented.

"Try being on the underwater piranha squad, then get back to me, Banner."

"Are you sure you want to be out there?"

"I took on a lab failure monster before, I think I can

"Best teacher out there is experience,"

"I don't think he's ready," Steve said.

"Cap, he can handle robots."

"Alright, let's strategize," Steve said, calling the team to attention. "What do we got?"

"Like I said, a fuckload of robots."

"What part of the city?"

"They're getting near Times Square,"

"Son of a bitch, alright, Spidey, you and Hawkeye stay near the roofs."

"This could have been so much easier if Nordic Thunder was here," Tony remarked.

"Where is Thor anyways?" Peter asked.

"On the other side of the galaxy," Tony said. "He's on Asgard, doing some stuff."

"Doing what?"

"Guarding asses, what else? Asgard? Ass guard?" Clint asked. "Anyone?"

"Jesus fucking Christ," Natasha muttered in the comm. link. "Guys, this is hardly the time."

"They're just robots," Tony said as he shot down three from the sky. "We've taken on worse."

"Great, robots. And all I have is a bow and arrow."

"But you have me," Peter said. "And my web goodness."

"Let's see you in action then, Webhead."

Peter grinned and slid the mask down his face. "As you wish, Hawkass."

With that, he shot a web outside the Quinjet and swung into the buildings.

* * *

He could do this all day.

"Three o'clock,"

"Hawkeye, left."

"Tony!" Peter yelled. "Order up!" He swung the clump of robots to Tony and cut off the web as Tony blasted them into the sky, blowing them into smithereens. The remnants fell on the rooftop.

"Nice catch, Spidey," Tony commented. "You're getting the hang of this."

"I'm a fast learner."

"Hill, any word on Doom's location?"

"Still tracking him down as we speak,"

"How is it that Doom can control his bots from his hideout? You know, he's a diva about trying to take over the world."

"We got him! We got him! Location is now implanted into the Quinjet map."

"Let's get him."

"Uh, Cap, there's a storm coming," Peter said.

"Stark, get Spider-Man NOW before-"

Loud rumbling shook the tower and Peter staggered, eyes wide behind his mask. Something was gonna happen, something bad. His Spidey sense was off the chain, tingling.

"Spidey, jump!"

"Why?!" Peter said back.

"Just do it, I'll catch you!"

"Jesus," Peter muttered under his breath and jumped off,

Just as that happened, a powerful bolt of lightning shot down from the sky, blasting Peter further into the air.

Peter screamed.

"I got you, kid," Tony said, catching him.

"Jesus Christ, what was that?!" Peter exclaimed.

"That was Thor," Clint said. "And you

A tall blond man stood on the roof of the tower.

"Well, about time!" Tony exclaimed. "Glad to have you back Nordic Thunder. Do us a solid and knock 'em out of the sky?"

"With pleasure."

* * *

"Shit," Clint hissed as Natasha pressed a gauze into his forehead.

"Language," Steve said flatly.

"Captain, don't. Just don't," Tony remarked. He turned to Peter. "Don't let his boy scout appearance fool you. This man can swear like a sailor."

"Can? This man does swear like a sailor," Clint added, moving over to let Natasha have more room to move.

"I was in the army," Steve shrugged. "I still don't get why everyone is so surprised."

"America's golden boy, more like America's lowkey savage," Tony said. Bruce hummed in agreement

"See, this is what I have to deal with," Natasha said. "Every single time."

Peter nodded along, pretending to not look as surprised as he felt. Everything was so different. This was the Avengers, the side no one really saw on the outside. Fighting bad guys, a team of superheroes, sure thing. But this was the Avengers. Where they were currently

It almost felt...

Normal.

Peter felt confused, for the lack of better words. This was so different. He fought criminals before, yeah. Back in Queens, when he was still the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man that snuck out the window at night to fight bad guys.

This wasn't indie labels anymore, this was mainstream. He was sharing a living space with deadly assassins, a super soldier, a billionaire and a gamma irradiated scientific genius. And now, an actual Norse god.

Thor was nice. Peter felt intimidated at first, because come on, a tall beefy Norse god just  _appearing_ from the sky? He was tiny compared to Thor. The scrawniest one of the bunch.

But all Peter thought after he was formally introduced to him was 'well color me surprised' because Thor was so nice. "Ah, the man of Spider," he had said. "I am Thor Odinson of Asgard."

"Uh, Peter Parker from Queens," Peter replied. "But Peter is fine."

"You are fighting with us, right" Thor asked.

"Yeah, I'm living in the tower for the time being," Peter said, rubbing his neck.

* * *

"Cap, I'm just a kid from Queens."

"Reminds me of something Bucky told me. Back in the war. He said he wasn't gonna follow Captain America, but instead, to follow that kid from Brooklyn that never backed down from a fight," Steve paused and let out a short laugh. "Okay, it was more along the lines of that idiot kid from Brooklyn that was too stubborn to back down from a fight."

"What a friend."

"Peter, you're still the kid from Queens, just like how I'm still the kid from Brooklyn. All of this robot fighting and fancy living, it doesn't take that away from us."

"It's a big, big world out there, Captain. It's still kind of baffling that all of this is happening. That I'm actually living in Avengers Tower, that two hours ago I fought about twelve robots on a rooftop,"

"Still a lot to taken in?" Steve asked.

"Yeah..." this wasn't just a whole new life. It was a whole new world.

"Trust me when I say this, Peter. Adjustment takes time. You'll find your place in this world," Steve said.

"Have you found yours?" Peter asked.

"I'll let you know when I do."

* * *

"The web slinging vigilante was seen fighting alongside the Avengers this afternoon during a robotic invasion under Doctor Doom," the reporter said. "No casualties or injuries were reported, but speculations have arisen. Where has Spider-Man been for the oast six months? Is he an Avenger? And more importantly, what can he bring to protect New York?"

It had been six hours since the attack. The Avengers were on the Quinjet, on their way still to the hideout location. ETA had changed from two hours to three, since wherever the hell Doom was hiding was mobile.

"Mute," Tony said and the television was muted.

"Well, now what?"

"I miss being Spider-Man. Its something that's important to me," Peter said. "I know this superhero stuff isn't easy, but if it means protecting others, I'll be glad to do it."

He knew it was more than that. That being Spider-Man was part of him as much as the shield was to Steve. It was much more deeper than what it seemed. Being Spider-Man helped him heal from the grief he felt after Uncle Ben's death. He still felt it now, but it was part of the healing process. He went out at night and made others feel safer with the bite he got that changed his life.

Not being Spider-Man had felt so weird. Peter expected things to go back to normal, but what was normal anyways?

Who was SHIELD to tell him what to do anyways?

"There's going to be risks," Steve said.

"Nothing I'm not used to," Peter said.

The living aspect, he was getting used to. But the actual Avenging part, not so much. Not at all. But if high school threw him more curve balls that he could handle, Avenging couldn't be much different.

Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Now this is when the plot starts to kick into gear. Yeah, little Esme knows what the fuck she was doing when she outlined this fic as a freshman. You go little Esme. Keep on kicking serious ass.
> 
> But in all seriousness, reviews are welcomed. Seriously. I understand some of y'all have probably lost interest since it's been such a long time, and that can apply to any of my fics, but reviews are really welcomed. Approximately 104 of you guys follow this fic, and it still baffles me each time someone adds me to their alerts. But I'll say it: reviews are really important. I am thirsty for reviews, for feedback, for acknowledgement that you guys enjoy this fic. It's important to me. It's been with me through thick and thin, tears and laughs, long nights writing or short brain storm sessions. Just please, if you can review, please do.
> 
> Of course, as always, thank you all for reading.


End file.
